Walking with Tiger, Phil and Bubba

   After walking the first nine holes with the Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods-Bubba Watson pairing today, a few quick observations:
   -- There wasn't much conversation among the three because they rarely walked to the same places. Tiger kept walking down the middle of the fairway. Phil and Bubba kept going to the rough.
  -- Woods looked like the old Tiger, in control. The other two looked like they were driving a car with a stuck accelerator.
  -- The galleries were enormous, as you would expect, but because they were making bogeys rather than birdies, there weren't many explosive cheers. That's the U.S. Open for you.
  -- After Mickelson bounced a tee shot off a man in the gallery on the 14th hole, he tossed another ball to the guy as a souvenir. A man standing nearby said, "Next time, hit me."
   Another spectator said, "Go stand in the fairway, then." Mickelson just smirked.
  -- Olympic is very difficult. When Woods ripped a beautiful 3-wood tee shot on the par-5 17th hole then watched it roll across the fairway and into the rough -- something that happens a lot at Olympic -- he handed his club back to caddie Joe LaCava and just shrugged.