OK, so maybe he's not invincible. Tiger Woods opened the third round of the U.S. Open with a double bogey Saturday, a near exact replay of the way he played the first hole of the tournament two days earlier. Just like Thursday, he pulled his drive hard into the left rough, and just like Thursday, he hacked out and landed short of the green. He hit his third shot to the fringe over the green, chipped short and then two-putted for a 6. Just like Thursday. On No. 4, Woods made a bogey after another errant drive, putting him 1 over, three shots behind leaders Stuart Appleby and Rocco Mediate.

It was quite an unexpected start for the world's best player, who a day earlier made it look as if he might romp to his 14th major title this weekend at Torrey Pines.

He made five birdies over his closing nine holes Friday to card a 30 and wind up one shot behind Appleby and tied with Mediate and Robert Karlsson at 2-under 140.

Karlsson had dropped three stroke over his first four holes to go back to 1-over. Ahead of him were Lee Westwood, at 1-under, and Miguel Angel Jimenez, Davis Love III and D.J. Trahan, all at par early in their rounds.

Even with the bad start, there would be no overlooking Woods.

"People always ask me, 'Who's the favorite?'" Mediate said. "Well, of course, he's the favorite. Of course he is. A lot of people said, 'Well, he's not going to win because he's had, whatever, a thousand weeks off. But he's different. It's not the same."

Of Tiger's 13 major championships, the U.S. Open has been the most elusive. He "only" has two of those and hasn't won it since 2002, at Bethpage Black in New York, the last time the national championship was played on a public course.

It's back on a public course again, though Torrey Pines hardly resembles what the average 10 handicapper will be playing this weekend.

"I don't think I'm the first guy to say it's very difficult out there," Appleby said, after he knocked in a 45-foot putt on the 18th hole Friday to take the lead.

Long, lush kikuya grass frames the fairways, which are always narrowed down for the U.S. Open, annually billed as the toughest test in golf.

A freshening wind off the Pacific Ocean was making things tricky, and the so-called Marine layer - the fog - was not dissipating as Saturday wore on. Still, it could be worse. Torrey Pines yielded 30 below-par rounds over the first two days, compared with four last year at Oakmont.

There were good scores to be had Saturday in the early rounds, especially if your name was Brandt. Brandt Snedeker, who played in the final group in the Masters earlier this year, shot a 68. Brandt Jobe shot a 69. Neither, however, found themselves close to the leaderboard.

There were also bad scores out there, none worse than the quadruple-bogey 9 that Phil Mickelson took on the par-5 13th.

After laying up with his second shot, Lefty tried pitching a shot up a closely mown hill in front of the green. He tried three times, and all three rolled back. The fourth stayed up there, but there were three putts to go for the 9, which dropped Mickelson to 8 over, and all but out of contention.

Written By EDDIE PELLS

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