Kaymer takes charge at U.S. Open

“Yeah, I was thinking for a while I was looking like I might go bogey-free around a U.S. Open course, which is a thought I shouldn’t have had go through my head,” the former Georgia Tech luminary said.

Such is the self-correcting nature of the U.S. Open. Players of every pedigree are supposed to, like Kuchar, come off the course a little scarred and a lot thankful for still finishing on leeward side of par (he finished at 1-under 69).

There is supposed to be a calamity hiding behind every clump of wiregrass. At an Open, there is a will-call window for heartache and the line is long.

So Brandt Snedeker (69) went out in 4 under on his first nine, then 4 over with his next three holes. He ricocheted a shot off a fairway bunker lip into the pines on No. 11 on his way to a double bogey and hours later still thought it wasn’t a boneheaded play. “Still wasn’t that awful of a shot,” he said. “It’s a 5-iron. I had plenty of room to get over the lip; I just kind of banged it a little bit.”

Thus Paul Casey (70) was sailing along through 16 holes at 2 under, until landing wide of the domed green on the par-4 eighth hole. Let’s try running it up the slope to the hole, he thought. Only his effort lacked conviction. The ball reached almost to the crest of the elevated putting surface then returned to where he stood like a puppy bringing a fetched stick.

In that kind of environment separation is normally as difficult for the world’s best golfers as it is for parents moving their first-born into the freshman dorm.

Then how does one explain Martin Kaymer? Playing in the afternoon, when the greens were dried up and the scoring should have been ticking upward, the winner of the 2010 PGA Championship and former No. 1-ranked player in the world put together a 5-under 65. His was the lowest-ever round shot in the 2 ¼ U.S. Opens played at Pinehurst. And it was good enough to open up a first-round, three-shot lead over the field.

Kaymer explained his round from the perspective of a guy who knows what he’s doing on a high-profile Thursday. He was capable of shooting a first-round course-record 63 in the Players Championship this year, so why not this? “That made a big difference on the confidence level,” he said.

“That, and then I think having three or four birdies that were very short putts — between two and five feet, the kind you should make.” Kaymer led the field Thursday with fewest putts, 25.

For everyone else, the re-made Pinehurst No. 2, which substituted weedy wastelands for hope-strangling rough seemed to hold up well. The layout kept everyone pretty much in line. Didn’t matter if they played early when the greens were softer, or late when they regained a bit of their hard outer shell. Thirty-four players clumped together between 70 and 68.

In that mosh pit are only three players who have previously won a major — Graeme McDowell (68), Keegan Bradley (69) and Phil Mickelson (70).

Included is the usual Ellis Island assortment of golfers that typically assembles on the Thursday of the most populist of the majors. They fall somewhere between Fran Quinn, a 49-year-old qualifier from Northboro, Mass. (68) and Kuchar, one of the crowd favorites.

It does not include Masters champion Bubba Watson, who came up with an impressive list of his faults after shooting 76. “Didn’t putt well. Didn’t chip well around the greens. Just not very good,” he said.

“I’ll come out tomorrow and try to shoot under par. It’s not science, it’s just golf,” he added.

It was just a day ago that Kaymer came off his practice round saying he’d take 8 over for the week. His expectations have been somewhat re-ordered. He and his surmountable lead must protect themselves from the U.S. Open’s tendency to even the score.