SAN DIEGO — Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson might be the game's top two players, but after one round of the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, neither finds themselves on the first page of the leaderboard.

Playing in the same group at a major for just the second time in their careers, the two superstars each turned in mediocre opening rounds.

Mickelson struggled mightily on the front side, making three consecutive bogeys to make the turn at 3 over. But he found his stride on the backside, firing a 3-under 33, leaving him at even-par 71.

Woods, playing his first competitive round since the Masters in April, opened with a double-bogey after hitting his tee shot into the left rough. The rest of the front nine Woods played solid, making three birdies to leave him at 1 under.

After making big par saves on holes 12 and 13, Woods made his second double-bogey on the par-4 14th and settled for a 1-over 72.

With co-leaders Kevin Streelman and Justin Hicks each shooting 3-under 68s, Mickelson finds himself three strokes off the lead while Woods is four shots off the lead.

Three players, Rocco Mediate, Stuart Appleby, Eric Axley and Geoff Ogilvy, are tied for second at 2-under 69.

But it was Woods and Mickelson, along with Adam Scott as the third member of the group, who most fans showed up to see early Thursday morning. Mickelson arrived at the teeing area just after 8 a.m., receiving a huge ovation from the hometown fans who wedged themselves all around the tee box and both sides of the first fairway.

Scott showed up a few minutes later, followed almost immediately by Woods, who also received a loud ovation from the fans. All three players shook hands, Scott using his left to protect the broken pinkie on his right hand.

The handshake was pretty much the extent of the interaction between Woods and Mickelson as they hardly spoke over the five hours it took to play the round.

The biggest question before the round started was how would Woods surgically repaired knee hold up and would it affect his play?

Prior to Thursday, Woods hadn't walked 18 holes, but he did that without any issues. But there were points during the round where it was very obvious the knee was bothering Woods, who grimaced noticeably after hitting his tee shot on the final hole.

"It didn't feel very good," Woods said about his final tee shot. "It's a little sore."

Woods said he's felt similar pain during his preparations for the Open, but said it's a different pain than the one he felt at the Masters, which convinced him to have the surgery.

Having had the long layoff, Woods said earlier in the week he needed to get into the flow of playing competitive golf again. He joked the six shots it took him to play the first hole provided plenty of opportunity to get into the flow.

"It's just a terrible start," Woods said. "It's one thing to hit the ball left off the tee, that's fine, pitch out. But on the wedge shot I had all the room short of the hole and I fly it past the hole. That's just a terrible mistake."

While he didn't make a double-bogey on his first hole, Mickelson had a hard time finding the fairway off the tee during the opening nine holes, even though he opted to leave his driver out of his bag and tee off with his 3-wood and hybrid.

With the course playing firm, Mickelson said his game plan was to not hit any shot more than 300 yards, so he decided he didn't need his driver. In the practice rounds he consistently hit the fairway with his 3-wood. But not so on Thursday.

"I made some terrible swings and hit it in the rough which kind of defeats the game plan because now I'm short and cooked," Mickelson said. "But when I started hitting fairways coming down the stretch I made birdies."

While he made three birdies on the back nine, Mickelson said he only made one good putt all day, a 25-footer on No. 10. The rest of his birdie putts were within 4 feet.

Conversely, Woods putted brilliantly for much of the round, making several key par-saving putts that allowed him to stay near par despite his back-nine struggles with ball-striking.

The biggest of those was a spectacular up and down on the par-4 12th hole. Woods hooked his tee shot left, then knocked his approach shot into the deep rough just short of the green.

Taking a huge swing and divot, Woods put his third shot on the green to 20 feet from the hole. He then stepped up and rolled in the par putt.

"It was nice to make that putt and keep some momentum going in the back nine," Woods said. "Unfortunately, I kind of messed that up from there (on)."

Both players claimed to enjoy the pairing and the excitement that came with it. Woods said it was loud at times.

"Everybody out here was so respectful. There wasn't any derogatory remarks," Mickelson said. "Everybody was really cool today. I was very proud to be from here (San Diego)."

As the game's two top players got the focus, journeymen Streelman and Hicks took the lead. Streelman led after the first round of this year's Buick Invitational so he obviously likes the golf course.

"It just suits me," Streelman said of Torrey Pines. "The lines off the tee suit my eye, I drove it well and my iron play was pretty solid. I'm going to try and keep it going."