Woods: Not the start his fans had expected

He too had made a less than auspicious start, opening with two straight bogeys.

But he bounced back to make birdies at the 3rd, 4th, 8th, 10th, 13th and 18th.

His final birdie came courtesy of a superb iron into the green which finished two feet from the flag, allowing him to hole it for a three-under-par total.

That looked like being matched by another veteran, Bernhard Langer, until the German found water at the 13th.

Having tracked Irwin for most of his round, he finished the hole with a double-bogey seven then promptly dropped two more shots to move above par.

It was left to Retief Goosen to make the move on Irwin's total, the South African holing an excellent putt at the seventh to move to three under.

At the time play was suspended, Japan's Toshimitsu Izawa had just made a birdie at the fourth to claim third place.

Langer: Double bogey at the 13th

A further shot behind was a clutch of eight American players, led in the clubhouse by Loren Roberts.

There were 20 players on level par, Angel Cabrera, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Matt Gogel the only ones in the clubhouse.

Nick Faldo, one of those still out on the course, made a promising start to sit even after five holes.

Spaniard Sergio Garcia did well to recover to level par after two early bogeys and he closed with a 70.

Gary Orr, in his first US Open, dropped two shots in the last two holes to finish at four over. Playing partner Bob May was two strokes better.

With temperatures touching 90 degrees making the greens extremely slick, Southern Hills proved a tough nut to crack.

There were 56 golfers at four over par or above when play was halted.

Colin Montgomerie, who teed off just before Woods, made a birdie at the 7th but missed a shortish putt at the next to slip back to one over.

Phillip Price of Wales announced his withdrawal from the tournament after the weather interruption.

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