Englishman Poulter takes share of early lead at Pebble Beach

Jun 17, 2010, 22:52 GMT

Pebble Beach, California - Englishman Ian Poulter fired a 1-under-par 70 to take an early share of the lead midway through the first round of the US Open at Pebble Beach.

But tournament favourite Phil Mickelson had a rare bad day with the putter and was five shots back on 4-over-par. Former Open and PGA champion Padraig Harrington finished two shots better off after a 72.

World No 1 Tiger Woods was level par through four holes of his opening round.

Poulter, who won the Accenture Match Play in February, had three birdies and just two bogeys in a consistent round, putting him alongside KJ Choi of Korea and Canadian Mike Weir as the leaders in the clubhouse.

Mickelson, beginning his round at the 10th hole on the picturesque coastal layout, slipped up on the 16th, 17th and 18th to turn in 3-over-par.

The Masters champion then bogeyed the fourth hole to finish without a single birdie and be five shots off the pace.

'It was terrible on the greens, one of my worst putting days,' Mickelson said. 'I mis-read a lot and hit a bunch of poor putts and didn't make birdies because of it.

'It's disappointing. It was a very fair set-up, conditions were good and it was under-par scoring today.'

Another Englishman, Luke Donald, was on level par after a solid 71, while two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen was alongside Mickelson on 4-over-par.