Woods - plotted his way to a three-under 67. (Allsport)

Tiger Woods threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field with an opening three under par 67 in the United States Open at the fiendishly difficult Bethpage Black on Thursday.

The Masters champion, chasing the second leg of his Grand Slam bid, sank a 10-foot closing putt to take a one-stroke lead over Spain's Sergio Garcia, whose 68 had stood as the clubhouse target for the majority of the day.

"Hopefully I can come out tomorrow with the same patience," said Woods, winner of six of the last 10 major championships.

"It's always nice to end the day with a good putt and today's the best I've putted all week."

Woods' only worry was his three-wood. The head came off in practice and while he thought it had been fixed he heard some rattling when he swung on one tee and is likely to switch to his stand-by club for the second round.

Nick Faldo, recipient of a special invitation, was delighted with his level par 70 - the same as Padraig Harrington - but a 75 represented Colin Montgomerie's worst start ever in the championship he has three times come closing to capturing.

World number one Woods was off and running with two 18-foot birdie putts at the 13th and 14th - his fourth and fifth - and after a bogey at the 479-yard 16th turned in 33 thanks to a 15-footer two holes later.

He took the lead by pitching to six feet on the second, bogeyed the 408-yard sixth, but then delivered the final-green blow which sent out an ominous warning to all his challengers.

Faldo has been in relaxed mood all week on what he calls the toughest course he has ever seen and had to laugh when one of the New York fans shouted out to him: "You were great in Star Wars."

The 44-year-old bears more than a passing resemblance to Harrison Ford, but this season he also bears more than a passing resemblance to the golfer who won six majors between 1987 and 1996.

He began with a 40-foot putt, ended with one from 25 feet and said: "Now I've got to put on the blinkers. It takes a lot of concentration here with the crowd going nuts - they're amazing."

Montgomerie's back was playing him up again, but he blamed the score more on his putting than his health.

"I didn't putt very well and that's why it was as bad as it was," he said.

"The only birdie I had was from four feet. I missed everything and that's really disappointing considering the way I've been putting for the last month. You can't compete putting like that."

There appeared to be a heckling incident on the eighth green - Montgomerie backed off a putt and turned round to look into the crowd - but did not want to discuss it afterwards.

"It was no problem at all. There wasn't an issue," he insisted.

Asked, however, how the "Be Nice To Monty" week was going - an American magazine had handed out 25,000 badges because of the trouble he has had in the past - he commented: "OK, but I wish Monty was being nicer to himself by holing putts. But never mind."

Garcia, with girlfriend Martina Hingis watching him this week (she is recovering from injury and out of Wimbledon), gave himself lots of birdie chances, but also scrambled brilliantly when he had to.

He was questioned afterwards about whether Hingis's experience of Grand Slam tennis is helping him at all.

"Yes, it does," said Garcia. "She's in a very similar position to me and knows what I'm going through.

"She knows what it feels to be in this position. It takes a lot of weight off my shoulders to be able to talk to somebody that understands that.

"And that's the thing - they don't give you a boring face because they don't know what's going on. With her I'm able to find that. And that's not easy to get from a girl."

He was also asked if Spain's progress in the World Cup was a distraction.

"When I'm out there I'm not thinking about Raul's goals or Morientes," said the Real Madrid fan. "I'm thinking about my own goals.

"Hopefully I'll be out late on Sunday and be able to watch the game." The Ireland clash kicks off at 7.30am New York time.

Garcia needed no reminding what event he was playing in when his opening drive missed the fairway by just a few feet and disappeared from view.

When he chipped close for birdie on the long fourth and chipped in from 12 feet for another at the 451-yard fifth he had needed just four putts to that point.

A bogey followed on the 408-yard sixth, but grabbing a rare birdie at the 499-yard 12th - the longest par four in the tournament's history and a hole where Justin Leonard ran up a quadruple bogey eight to crash from one under to three over - took him back to two under.

Garcia, who sank a 20-footer, then saved pars on the 479-yard 16th and short 17th after visiting sand both times.

France's Jean Van de Velde, who came through the qualifying competition last week just as he did for the Open at Carnoustie in 1999, was sharing the lead for a while, but then had two bogeys and a double bogey for a one-over 71, the same as compatriot Thomas Levet, Spaniard Jose Maria Olazabal and Dane Thomas Bjorn.

Paul Lawrie shot 73, Darren Clarke 74, Paul McGinley 75 like Montgomerie and debutants Luke Donald and David Howell 76 and 78 respectively.

If they felt they were out of it, though, they should have listened to world number two Phil Mickelson, who after a level-par 70 spoilt only by a double bogey six on the 15th said he thought the winning score might be four or five over par - and if it got windy possibly nine, 10 or 11 over.

That was before Woods finished, though. The left-hander might be thinking of reconsidering his prediction now.