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TSN Senior Reporter

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PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF. – Mike Weir can be a colourful guy but he wasn’t too pleased with all the colours on his scorecard after the first round of the U.S. Open.

The 49-year-old completed a round of 3-over, making five birdies and eight bogeys, putting lots of blue and gold squares over his scores to indicate over and under par.

“It was eventful,” said Weir who is playing his third U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. “I’ll say that.”

The Canadian icon began his round with a couple of bogeys before getting those back a hole later with two consecutive bogeys. He then jumped back on the bogey train for three more before striping two beautiful shots on the 18th, setting up an eagle putt from 20 feet.

He left that just a touch short and tapped in for a birdie.

His second nine was a combination of four pars, three bogeys and two birdies.

“It was just a strange round,” admitted Weir. “I missed it in some strange spots. You’re going to miss some fairways, you’re going to miss some greens, but I missed them in the wrong spots and left myself some very, very difficult ups and downs. If I missed them on the other sides, they were pretty easy ups and downs.”

Despite the inconsistency, Weir remained confident in his overall game. Considering the setup, the mistakes weren’t glaring – few wayward drives and a handful of bad breaks.

On the second hole, for example, his tee shot flew just right of the fairway towards two fairway bunkers. But instead of landing in the sand, from where he could play an easy shot to the green, it came to rest in a thin finger of nasty rough between the two traps. His only play was to hack it out into the fairway.

“I’m playing fine, I know I’m playing fine,” said Weir. “I’m making lots of birdies I just need to find the fairways. I think I only hit eight of 14 today so I need to get that up a little bit to give myself some chances.

“Hopefully I can just clean it up a bit.”

Nick Taylor ended up with the same score as his countryman, and struggled through the same inconsistency early on before righting the ship later.

His round began with three straight bogeys and then treaded water until two solid shots put him 10 feet from the cup on the par-5 18th. He drained the eagle putt, ending his day on a high note.

“After the first couple of holes, I struck it quite nicely,” he stated. “Whenever I missed a green I couldn’t get up and down, and I would have liked to have made a few putts to get some momentum going. But it’s nice to finish that way so I can shoot a good round tomorrow and maybe get back into it.”

Tomorrow’s plan is simple Taylor summarized.

“Make as many birdies as possible.”