Hicksville

Justin Hicks finished his round at 3-under, the first golfer to get in the U.S. Open clubhouse at that number.

Who?

Doesn't it seem like there's a Justin Hicks on the first-day leaderboard every year at the U.S. Open?

Hicks graduated from the University of Michigan in 1997 and turned pro that year. This is just his third career start on the PGA Tour, and one of the previous two was the 2004 U.S. Open.

Hicks has status on the Nationwide Tour, where he finished 80th on the 2007 money list. He had one runner-up last year, one other Top 10, and made 8 of 15 cuts.

He's bounced between the mini-tours and the Nationwide Tour over the years. This season he's played in six Nationwide Tour events, making three cuts. In 2005 he got into 10 Nationwide tournaments, making five cuts.

While he has no chance of hanging in there until Sunday, Hicks will always have a first-round 68 at the 2008 U.S. Open, will always be able to claim that he once led a U.S. Open. And ain't nothing wrong with that.