Chris O'meara / AP

Phil Mickelson, left, and Tiger Woods had their rough spots Thursday, but each remained in contention at the U.S. Open. Woods finished at 1-over and Mickelson closed at even par.

Rarely has there been so much speculation over Woods, who had surgery to clean out cartilage around his knee April 15, two days after the Masters. He had not played a competitive round since then, much less walked 18 holes.

But it didn’t take him long to get back into the rhythm of major championship golf.

“Getting into the flow of the round, it helps when you hit six shots on the first hole,” he said.

Woods hooked his opening tee shot into rough so deep he could only gouge a sand wedge back into the fairway. The eye-opener came on the flip wedge to the back pin, the ball landing just beyond the flag and hopping six feet high, not landing until it was in more cabbage behind the green. He chipped 6 feet by and missed the putt.

It was his first double bogey since the opening round of the BMW Championship last September.

“I figured you’re going to make bogeys out here,” Woods said. “I just happened to make two on the very first hole.”

The plan was to get back to par, which is where everyone wants to be at a U.S. Open, and Woods got there with a 5-iron from a fairway bunker to two feet on the tough fourth hole along the bluffs, a tee shot that slowly rolled down the ridge to five feet on the par-3 eighth, and two powerful swings on the 612-yard ninth to the collar of a bunker, from where he chipped to three feet for birdie.

As for the knee?

There was no question it was hurting, especially when he took a huge cut from the rough on No. 12 and went after his tee shot on the 18th hole, a drive so long and straight that he had only 7-iron for his second shot.

“It’s a little sore” was about all Woods offered after his round, adding that he felt similar pain during his practice rounds.

But he was back to playing golf, continuing his pursuit of the 18 professional majors won by Jack Nicklaus, and what really made him sore was dropping shots with careless mistakes.

Woods saved par with a 15-foot putt on the 12th to stay 1 under and was poised to go lower when he found the fairway on the 13th hole, which played only 539 yards with the Pacific breeze at his back. But his 6-iron didn’t carry like he imagined, coming up short of the elevated green and rolling back some 100 yards down the hill. He bladed a wedge over the green and had to make a 12-footer to save par.

Then came his second double bogey, going from a fairway bunker to short of the green, a stubby chip that didn’t clear the collar of rough, and a chip seven feet past the hole.

Video   Mickelson's ups and downs June 12: Highlights and lowlights from Phil Mickelson's first round at the 2008 U.S. Open.

Mickelson made his share, starting with a three-putt bogey on No. 5 for the first of three straight bogeys.

He was four behind Woods through 12 holes, tied with him two holes later after a two-putt birdie on the 13th and a beautiful approach to three feet on the 14th. Each birdied revved up the gallery even more, the cheers evenly divided for Woods, a six-time winner of the Buick Invitational, and Mickelson, who grew up in San Diego.

“It was pretty interesting to tee off at 8 o’clock and have this many people out here,” Mickelson said.

They saw just about everything but the guys leading the tournament.