One round down ... and we're looking good

You can't win a major championship, or any 72-hole golf tournament for that matter, on the first day. But you sure can make it tough on yourself, and a few of the guys I picked as pre-tournament favorites stumbled a bit in the first round of the U.S. Open.

The opening round of the 110th U.S. Open is history now, and as you might expect, par was a fabulous number at Pebble Beach Golf Links. A trio leads at 2-under-par 69: England's Paul Casey, little-known Brendon de Jonge of Zimbabwe and American Shaun Micheel. Casey's a budding star, but the other two are typical of first rounds at the Open, where just about anyone could be a star for a day. Micheel's only PGA Tour victory was in a major, the 2003 PGA Championship, and de Jonge has just one win, too, but on the Nationwide tour, the PGA Tour's minor-league circuit.

A half-dozen players were at 1-under 70, including three of my 12 pre-tourney picks: England's Ian Poulter, South Korean veteran K.J. Choi and 18-year-old Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa. The sartorial Poulter usually is the flashiest dresser on the course, but Ishikawa, decked out all in pink, gets the award for boldest fashion statement. If his game is as confident as his choice in clothing, he'll still be in the hunt on Sunday.

Another of my picks, Dustin Johnson, the winner of the 2009 and 2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, was in a group of three players at even-par 71, while two more of my choices, Americans Jim Furyk and Ricky Barnes, were in a 15-player logjam at 1-over 72.

That's half my 12 picks right there up near the top of the leaderboard. The other half? Two were tied for 47th, Lee Westwood of England and Australian Robert Allenby, who joined Woods (who I left off my "12 players to beat" list) and 16 others at 3-over 74; Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy were among 24 players at 4-over 75; and Nick Watney, my admitted longest of longshots, was tied for 90th at 5-over 76.

In review, none of my 12 guys is out of it, certainly not like poor Blaine Peffley, a 25-year-old Hooters Tour player from Pennsylvania. His card showed 86, with a half-dozen 5s, two 6s and a fat 8 on the treacherous par-4 8th. He'll be checking out of his hotel on Friday.

Some of my guys, especially, Mickelson, Stricker, McIlroy and Watney, will have to pick it up a bit on Friday to not be in danger of missing the cut. A total of 60 players, and ties, and anyone within 10 shots of the leader, will get to play on the weekend. That 10-shot rule could be important, because it doesn't look anyone will be able to run away with it, and right now, 141 players (out of a field of 156), are within 10 shots of the lead.