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Steady start for big three

Maryland - The top three players in the world made solid starts at the 111th US Open on Thursday with steady rain greeting the early groupings and heavier showers forecast for later in the day.

Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer both birdied the devlish 218-yard par-three 10th, their opening hole, while Lee Westwood settled for a par.

The marquee grouping featuring the three European world leaders playing together, Phil Mickelson out to shatter a 20-year-old jinx and no Tiger Woods were the talking points as the action got underway at Congressional Country Club.

The fallen US and world superstar Woods had played in 16 straight US Opens since making his debut as an amateur in 1995, but serious knee and ankle injuries sustained at the Masters in April ruled him out this time around.

His tumble down the world rankings ushered in a period of uncertainty at the top, with three players - Westwood of England, Kaymer of Germany and Donald of England - all taking turns to rule the roost in the last seven months.

Current number one Donald expresses pride in having reached the top, but is in no doubt that it is winning majors that counts most in a career. At 33 he has yet to achieve that feat.

"Certainly being number one is a great achievement, but if you ask me if I would swap that for Phil (Mickelson's) record, sure, I would love to take his majors and the number of victories he has had," he said.

Also among the early birdies was 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink who birdied the 10th and the tough par-four 11th to get to two under

The 41-year-old Mickelson knows only too well the task facing Donald, having failed 46 times to win a major before finally coming good at the 2004 Masters.

He has also won the USPGA, but it is the US Open that he wants most, having finished runner-up a record five times, most recently at Bethpage on Long Island two years ago.

The left-hander from California insists he is not obsessed by finally winning the tournament that matters most to him.

"Just as when I was trying to win my first major championship, if you focus so much on the result, if you focus so much on winning, sometimes you can get in your own way," he said.

"I'm trying to think about the process of playing the type of golf I want to play around this course."

Mickelson will head out in the afternoon in the company of emerging American talent Dustin Johnson and 22-year-old Ulsterman Rory McIlroy, who will be out to banish memories of his closing 80 at the Masters in April after leading by four going into the final round.

In a packed international field of 156 golfers, US Golf Association officials have strung together some eye-catching groupings such as the all-Italian line-up of the Molinari brothers, Francesco and Edoardo, along with 18-year-old prodigy Matteo Manassero and Spaniards Sergio Garcia, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Alvaro Quiros.

Then there are recent Masters winners Charl Schwartzel and Trevor Immelman of South Africa and Zach Johnson of the United States as well as defending champion Graeme McDowell with British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and US amateur champion Peter Uihlein.

The par-71 Blue course at Congressional, west of Washington, has been extensively remodeled since Ernie Els won the last time it was played here in 1997 and the consensus verdict is "tough but fair."

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