Thursday June 16, 2011, 09:11 PM

Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer -- the top-ranked golfers in the world -- came out confident and walked away humbled in Thursday's first round of the US Open.

World No. 1 Donald of England and Germany's third-ranked Kaymer each fired three-over par 74s while World No. 2 Westwood of England finished on 75 after being paired together for the first 18 holes at Congressional Country Club.

"All three of us struggled out there a bit," Donald said. "There were no fireworks. We just didn't get on a run. At times you need one of the guys to get on a run to get everyone going and it just didn't happen today."

The stars, who began off the 10th tee in the morning, failed to live up to their billing in an event already lacking Tiger Woods, a 14-time major champion sidelined by injury and himself mired in a 20-month win drought.

"If we had played well, having the top three in the world would have been more enjoyable for people to watch, but none of us played well," Westwood said.

"I think we all just about got what we deserved."

The only three players who have topped the rankings since Woods was dethroned from the top spot last October struggled to find form despite rain that helped soften the usually rock-hard greens.

"All of us, we didn't have our best day," Kaymer said. "We were just trying to grind it out and not shoot ourselves out of the tournament. If you shoot around par it's always a good score. I shot three-over, which is not a bad score."

Donald, who hit only seven of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation, began with back-to-back birdies but began a run of four bogeys in five holes at the 13th and followed with a double bogey at the 18th.

"I didn't hit enough fairways. That kind of puts you behind the eight-ball a little bit," Donald said. "When I had those six- to eight-footers to save some pars, I wasn't making them. So it was a struggle."

Donald birdied the first hole to start his back nine and answered a bogey at the par-3 seventh with a birdie at eight to build some optimism for round two.

"Shooting three-over isn't great but it's not disastrous," Donald said. "I made a dream start. I hit two great 4-irons and I was up and running.

"Certainly at three-over I'm not out of it. It's only going to get tougher and if I can plug away and shoot some good scores coming in, I'm still right there."

Westwood took a bogey at the 11th but birdied the par-5 16th, then he answered a bogey at the 18th with a birdie at the second, only to bogey the third, fourth and sixth holes and drop another stroke on his last hole.

"It's not a very good score because I think the course was there for the taking," said Westwood, who also hit only half the fairways and made only seven greens in regulation.

"I just didn't play very well. I didn't hit enough good iron shots or enough fairways. My short game was pretty good. I just made too many mistakes."

Kaymer's birdie-bogey-bogey-birdie start was enough of a roller coaster, but he took bogeys at the par-4 17th, first and third holes before a birdie at the eighth, only to stumble in with another bogey at the par-5 ninth.

"Our back nine, the wind was quite tough to go for the flags," Kaymer said. "I'm struggling with the driver at the moment. My short game kept me alive. I was saving a lot of pars and making great birdie putts."

© 2011 AFP/sid