Mickelson battles on with wrist injury

OAKMONT, Pennsylvania, June 15 (Reuters) Phil Mickelson, struggling with a wrist injury, steadied himself over the closing holes to post a four-over-par 74 in the US Open first round.

Mickelson finished with eight pars in a row after shooting three-over-par 38 for his first nine, where he hit only one fairway after teeing off from the 10th, yesterday.

''I feel like I'm below the winning score,'' Mickelson told reporters, predicting the 72-hole total would exceed four over par. ''I made 14 pars today and I could have parred 16 and 18.

''I don't have to make birdies. I can keep making pars.'' Mickelson, who threw away last year's Open at Winged Foot when he double-bogeyed the last hole, hurt his left wrist two weeks ago as he practised hitting out of Oakmont's dense rough.

The big left-hander, winner of three major titles, has barely been able to practise since. In between rounds of therapy, he played just nine holes on Tuesday and nine more on Wednesday in preparation.

His game plan was to stay out of Oakmont's rough, where contact with the thick grass could jar his brace-supported wrist.

Mickelson, however, had trouble finding the fairway.

''I was in the rough a lot more than I wanted to be,'' he said after hitting just five fairways off the tee overall. ''This isn't the place where you want to be in the rough.'' Mickelson said he was not getting the stabbing pain he felt when he first injured the wrist, but called the injury ''annoying'' and ''aggravating.'' He bogeyed his second hole, the 11th, letting go of the club with his left hand as he dug the ball out of the rough. Bogeys at 16, 18 and the first followed.

After that, he began to execute his plan better and ran off his string of pars to stay within six shots of first-round leader Nick Dougherty.

''I just need one good round tomorrow to keep me in it,'' he said. ''That's all I care about right now.'' Reuters BJR RS1004