Ireland's Padraig Harrington shot a 69 to leave himself three shots off the clubhouse leader Justin Leonard in the first round of the US Open at Olympia fields today.
A bogey at the last left the Dubliner on one under for the round alongside fellow European tour veteran Colin Montgomerie.
The duo were at one stage in a share for the lead, with Montgomerie climbing as high as four under.
Harrington got off to a perfect start with birdies on two and five before bogeying the ninth to turn on one under. He was immediately back in touch however when he shot a three on the par four tenth. His bogey on the 18th was his only deviation from par after that.
Ireland's Darren Clarke is currently level par with nine holes played. The Dungannon man recovered from two early bogies to card two birdies in his front nine, having started from the tenth tee.
Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion at Royal Troon, was experiencing a roller-coaster round. He picked up two shots in his first three holes before offsetting a bogey-five at the fourth with a birdie-three at the ninth.
The Texan dropped his second shot of the day at the par-four 12th but then bounced back with three successive birdies from the 13th to snatch the outright lead at four under before being joined by Blake.
One shot back in early second place was Australia's Stephen Leaney, who mixed four birdies and one bogey in a first-round 67.
Defending champion Tiger Woods started and finished poorly to fire a level-par 70.
Woods, bidding for his third U.S. Open crown in four years and the ninth major of his career, initially struggled on the difficult greens and was one over par after 14 holes.
But the world number one, who won last year's tournament by three shots at Bethpage Black, resurrected his round by hitting a superb three-iron approach to 20 feet at the 555-yard sixth hole before sinking the eagle putt.
In overcast conditions, he then missed a birdie chance from 12 feet on seven, scrambled a par on eight and bogeyed nine after finding a greenside bunker and failing to get up and down.
That left the 27-year-old four strokes off the early lead, jointly held by Leonard and PGA Tour player Jay Don Blake.
"I didn't hit a couple of tee shots where I wanted to and the pin positions were tricky today - I fired away from the flags on 15 holes," said Woods.
"You just have to keep plodding along in U.S. Opens and, although I made 15 pars today, unfortunately I also made two bogeys.