Crenshaw Has 67 and Takes One-Shot Lead : Ballesteros, Nakajima, Floyd Are Tied for Second

Ben Crenshaw, taking advantage of gentle morning conditions and his own hot putter, exceeded his own expectations with a three-under-par 67 Thursday for a one-stroke lead in the first round of the 87th U.S. Open golf championship.

“When I went to the practice tee and saw the winds were light, I wanted to take advantage of it,” Crenshaw said.

“I kind of set a target score of 70. I’m three ahead of that target, and that’s fine for me,” Crenshaw said after he finished off his round with a birdie on the 18th hole.

It was not so fine for his closest pursuers, which included defending champion Raymond Floyd. Unlike Floyd, most played in the afternoon, when increasing winds and decreasing temperatures heightened the natural difficulties of the tight, tree-lined Lake course at the Olympic Club.

Floyd, two-time Masters and British Open champion Seve Ballesteros of Spain and Tommy Nakajima of Japan were tied for second at 68, one shot behind Crenshaw.

The only other players to crack par-70 were a pair of South Africans, Denis Watson and Nick Price, both regulars on the American PGA Tour, and former Masters champion Bernhard Langer of West Germany. All were at 69.

Jack Nicklaus, 47, who has four U.S. Open victories among his record collection of 18 major pro titles, also was under par until he three-putted for bogey on the final hole.

“That didn’t bother me too much. I’d made my share of putts out there today,” Nicklaus said, and smiled.

“For a while, I actually felt like I knew what I was doing,” he said.

Australian Greg Norman, a central figure in all of the major tournaments for more than a year, was the most notable absentee among the leaders.

Norman, occasionally pounding his clubs on the fairways in frustration, could do no better than a 72.

The club that has helped keep Crenshaw from winning a U.S. Open stayed in his golf bag much of Thursday.

Crenshaw used his often unreliable driver only six times in the first round of the 87th Open, relying instead on a 3-wood off the tee.

Open courses, with their narrow fairways and deep roughs, usually punish players like Crenshaw who have difficulty keeping the ball in the fairway. His best Open finish was a tie for third in 1975 at Medinah in suburban Chicago. He did challenge briefly during the final round of last year’s Open at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, N.Y.

“My principal downfall in the Open has been my erratic driver,” said Crenshaw. “Today I was willing to give up the distance to stay in the fairway. I hit some good iron shots and kept my mistakes to a minimum.”

Crenshaw sank two short birdie putts on the third and fourth holes then recorded pars on the rest of the front nine to make the turn in 2-under. He went to 3-under with a 60-foot putt on the par-4 11th.

“It didn’t break that much,” Crenshaw said of the putt. “I was just aiming six to eight inches left of the hole. It looked like it was going in and it did, right in the middle of the hole.”

Two holes later Crenshaw rolled in another long putt, this one from about 35 feet, for a birdie-2.

“That putt looked like it had eyes, it just went right in the middle of the hole,” he said. “You don’t expect to hit two putts like that in the Open.”

Crenshaw, 35, gave back his two long birdie putts with a double-bogey on No. 14. He hit a poor shot from a greenside bunker, followed with a pitch within seven feet then missed the putt for a six.

“I took too much sand and it ended up just about three feet out of the bunker,” Crenshaw said. “I misjudged the sand.”

He concluded his round with a birdie on 18, tapping in from three feet after a superb wedge shot on the short par-4.

Despite his opening-round 67, Crenshaw remained respectful of the 6,709-yard Olympic layout.

“It’s relentless,” Crenshaw said. “You just have to hold on for dear life and play. You can’t go to sleep for one second.”