Double bogeys mar Mikko Ilonen's first round at US Open (UPDATED)

Fancied players struggle at Pebble Beach

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Playing in his first-ever US Open, Finland's Mikko Ilonen started brightly at Pebble Beach in California on Thursday, birdieing his first two holes to have an early and fleeting moment at the top of the leaderboard of this season's second Major.
      Alas, it was not to last, and double-bogeys at the 12th and 17th (Ilonen started from the 10th tee) undid all the good work.
      He did pick up another two birdies in his round, but a total of four bogeys and two doubles meant he carded a 75, four over par for the day.
     
Ilonen was particularly spendthrift on the course's tricky par-threes, emerging five over par for the four holes.
      "I played very well for most of the round. I was putting the ball into all the right places, and my drives were solid, but the par-3s killed off a decent score. As far as I can see, this was down to excitement more than bad shots", Ilonen reported.
     
Scoring a 75 on the opening day might in some tournaments be more or less fatal if others post totals in the mid-60s, making it practically impossible to make the cut regardless of a good second round, but on this occasion there is cause for hope.
      Pebble Beach was giving nothing away on Thursday, and only nine players managed to get under par. The statistics bear it out: the average score if all players are considered was 75.3, and at the toughest hole (the par-3 17th, with an average score of 3.58), bogeys outnumbered birdies by 75 to 12, while 12 players (including Mikko Ilonen, unfortunately) took five strokes to get down.
      Shaun Micheel (USA), Paul Casey of England, and Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge coped best and had a share of the lead with 69s, and there were a further six players on 70.
     
Ilonen was out early, and when his round was done, he found himself well down the field, but windier conditions did not favour those with later tee-times, and one by one a good many fancied names posted scores in the mid-70s or worse, eventually pushing the Finnish debutant up to 66th.
      He is in good company, too - world No.1 Tiger Woods scored a 74, as did No.3 Lee Westwood of England, and world No.2 Phil Mickelson (who could overtake Woods with a good result here) had a choppy day and posted a birdieless 75, including one shot that ended up in the Pacific Ocean.
     
Ranked on Thursday as a 500/1 outsider by bookmakers Ladbrokes, Mikko Ilonen gets going again tonight at 22:41 Finnish time and will be hoping to tame the par-3s and put some red numbers on the board in order to give himself a good platform to continue through the weekend.
      The first 60 of the 156 players (and those tied with them), plus all those who are within 10 strokes of the leader, will make the cut on Friday for the last two rounds.
      Ilonen's best performance so far at one of golf's four major tournaments was a tied 9th at the 2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
      He has performed moderately well this season, with a 4th place finish at the Volvo China Open among his best results, and is currently 53rd on the European Tour lists.
     
     
UPDATED: Ilonen misses cut by three strokes
     

Unfortunately the wheels fell off Mikko Ilonen's chances at the US Open early in his second round.
      He started the day well enough with two birdies in the first four holes, but even in a high-scoring competition such as this, a string of five successive bogeys between holes five and nine put him right out of the reckoning.
      A double bogey at the treacherous par-five 14th (ranked on the day as the most difficult hole on the course, with no fewer than 44 bogeys, 10 double-bogeys, and 8 "worse even than that" scores recorded on Friday) set the seal on an undistinguished round of 77, six over par.
      Ilonen eventually missed the cut by three strokes.
     
In the end, the spoils on Sunday went to Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who was the leader at halfway and played with great composure to hang on and win by a stroke from Gregory Havret of France.
      McDowell was the first European to win the trophy since 1970, and was also the only player in the entire field - including the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson - to complete the 72 holes in par. His final round of 74 (3 over) gave him a total of 284.
      The runner-up Havret (285) was ranked only 391st in the world going into this tournament, and had incidentally grabbed his place in the field at the same qualifying competition in the U.K. as Ilonen did.
     
Pebble Beach proved to be a very stern test indeed, not least for the overnight leader going into the final round: Dustin Johnson started Sunday at 6-under for the tournament and with a three-stroke cushion over McDowell, but the American was brought crashing down to size and eventually carded a nightmarish 11-over 82 to finish down in 8th place.
      Even Tiger Woods was made to look like a mere mortal: he finished with a less-than-stellar 75 to share 4th place with Mickelson on 287, one stroke behind Ernie Els of South Africa.
      When Woods won at this same venue in 2000, he tore the course apart to score 272, and his nearest rival was fifteen strokes behind him.
      This time, for a change, the golf course got to share in the winner's victory celebrations.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Mikko Ilonen makes bright start at Wentworth as big names falter (21.5.2010)

Links:
  US Open
  European Tour: Mikko Ilonen

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