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Read all the players' thoughts from a very soggy US Open at Bethpage Black.

Mike Weir: "It was just one of those days. I was just really focused on it. I didn't give the score much thought. I was just trying to hit it close.

"It's nice but it doesn't mean a whole lot. It's a great feeling but it's the US Open. It takes more than one good round.

"The course is playing longer. Players who hit longer have an advantage but those of us medium hitters think we can compete. The greens are holding. It's not as big a factor as you would have thought."

Tiger Woods: "The course is playing tough, obviously. They moved quite a few tees up, but still, the fairways have dried out just enough where you're getting just a little bit of mud, and the wind is starting to pick up just a little bit... I wasn't playing poorly. You know, that's the thing. I was even par with four to go, and I was right there where I needed to be, and two bad shots and a mud ball later, here we go and I'm at four over par.

"I'll just continue to do what I'm doing and just hopefully clean up the round a little bit, maybe tomorrow, hopefully drive the ball in the fairway and get a couple of breaks and not catch 'em, but we'll see what happens."

"It's only going to get worse, unless we get more rain. If we get more rain we won't catch them again but if it dries out more, this is going to get interesting, because you would have to hit low tee shots and run it off - but the problem is the fairways are so soft it's not going to go anywhere. If you take the chance of carrying the ball out there, you also have a chance of picking up mud on the ball, too."

Peter Hanson: "(On qualifying at Walton Heath with a hole-in-one during a play-off) When I made that hole in one over in Walton Heath, London, of course, it felt like fate to get here and I'm just trying to tell myself to get everything out of it.

"This is my third US Open now and I've been playing some of the Majors and I was really disappointed to just miss out on the Masters this year. I missed with two or three spots on the World Ranking. It felt so nice to get in this one.

"It's only the first round and everyone knows it's always good to be in a good position after day one, but everybody knows you want to be there Sunday afternoon coming into the back nine with a chance to lead. "

David Duval: " I think the two Opens are the most important events of the year. The Masters is its own entity and the PGA is kind of in the same boat I think. But the two Opens are events to which everyone has access, technically.... To come back up here was very important to me, so the qualifying up in Columbus was a very important day.

"I feel like I'm controlling the golf ball well, hitting it good. In the first round, I did what you need to do, simple recipe, hit the ball in play and knock it on the green. That's been my goal ever since, well, when we started out the qualifying rounds.

"I've been working hard, and I've been playing well. So I have felt like for most of this year, my scores have not been reflective at all of how I'm playing, and they are, slowly, catching up to how I'm playing."

"After going through the struggles I have, I would say I hope I appreciate it more but I also have a very good idea what great golf is about and what bad golf is about. "

Rocco Mediate: "I love this type of golf. I've been saying I've been hitting my ball just fine, for about eight months, I haven't made a score at all and I just hoped I could keep hitting good and so far, so good, today. 68 does a lot of good at one of those events.

"(On his near miss at the 2008 US Open) It was the coolest thing ever. It was the most intense thing ever. So coming in, I really wanted to finish it off good today, and I did. So I knew I could, because I did it before. So no reason. I love this golf course. It's fantastic. "

Graeme McDowell: " I'm fascinated by the Major challenge in general. I think it's what we measure our games by. As you keep getting better you want to try and compete in these things as much as you possibly can. You're playing against the best players in the world on the toughest setups.

"I realise there's no point being up on the leaderboard now but you're jockeying for position posting a nice number on Thursday it's not going to hurt as long as I don't get ahead of myself mentally. I've got to stay in the present, keep doing what I'm doing all weekend and realise it's going to be a tough slog."

Ian Poulter: "The golf course was surprisingly playable after all of that rain yesterday. I didn't think we would start on time this morning. So I'm not sure what time those greenskeepers had their alarms set, but mine was set for 4:50, and I'm sure theirs was set for a bit earlier.

"(On the later starters having an easier draw) It is what it is. Your draw is your draw. You can't think too much about it to be honest. It will be what will be. If it's going to rain in the morning it's going to rain and not much we can do about it. It's going to be a wet weekend from the forecast so just have to get on with it."

Drew Weaver: "The delay (on Thursday) came at a very good time. The golf course tee to green was okay. But the greens are just puddling up, they're too flat. The guys on the squeegees just really couldn't keep up. I think everybody was ready to get off the golf course and just getting started this morning with pretty calm conditions was great. Those guys going out now definitely got a little advantage on us.

"I have no preconceived notion about how I should play. I just want to go out there and realise that I am playing well and just kind of maintain that confidence and I was able to do that today really well."

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