MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- The first day of the U.S. Open was a gift, a small box waiting at reception to thank you for coming. That was what the USGA and Winged Foot handed the players. It's been a long, tough year for everyone and they just wanted to be nice. Well, that's over.
The real U.S. Open began on Friday, when the winds swirled and the greens started to the bake and the rough seemingly grew an inch or two every hour. Remember how there were 21 players under par in the opening round? Now, only six names on the leaderboard have red numbers next to their names.