OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) - The rains came. The question now is whether lower-than-expected scores will follow at the U.S. Open.

Tiger Woods was among a growing number of players below par early in their rounds as opening-round play began on time today at Oakmont Country Club, despite heavy fog that burned off just in time to accommodate the first groups off the tee.

A thunderstorm dumped slightly less than a half inch of rain on Oakmont late yesterday afternoon, softening up its wickedly fast greens right when the USGA felt they were in prime condition.

As a result, there were plenty of scores in the red among the first golfers on the course - something Arnold Palmer didn’t predict yesterday, when he wondered aloud if Oakmont might be too tough for this field.

With more than half of those 156 golfers yet to tee off, Angel Cabrera was 3-under par through five holes, one stroke better than Jose Maria Olazabal (eight holes), David Toms (seven holes) and Pat Perez (four holes). Six more were at 1-under, including Ernie Els, the 1994 winner at Oakmont, and Woods, who was a year away from playing in the U.S. Open the last time it stopped at Oakmont.

Woods took a bogey 5 on No. 1, birdied No. 2 and was 1-under through seven holes in his first competitive round at Oakmont.

This is a record eighth U.S. Open at Oakmont, but the first in 13 years, and only a dozen or so players have tournament experience on a course reputed to be the toughest in America.

This Oakmont doesn’t look like that pre-Tiger Oakmont of 1994, not with 5,000 trees leveled since then, the bunkers made deeper and more threatening and the Church Pews bunker expanded.

With so much trouble awaiting, and so little Oakmont experience out there, Palmer predicted it could be a very shaky opening round or two for many. He hasn’t missed an Open at Oakmont in more than 50 years, but he almost sounded relieved to be sitting this one out.

For all the changes, he said, what sets Oakmont apart are greens so fast and tilted that the USGA is having trouble finding four adequate pin placements on each hole.

"I’ve talked to some of the guys that have been out there, and I’ve talked to some of the former champions who have been out there, and they tell me this field - and this is just an observation - is not really ready for Oakmont," said Palmer, the tournament’s honorary chairman, "that they haven’t really learned yet how to play Oakmont."

Palmer is certain of that, if only because he has played Oakmont for 66 years and even The King isn’t entirely sure if he fully knows a course whose greens are so frighteningly fast, so unnervingly difficult to read.

"There are golf courses over the years that I could play a practice round or two and feel pretty comfortable that I knew how to play it," Palmer said. "Oakmont just doesn’t happen to be that kind of golf course. I’ve played, well, since I was 12 years old. And I’m not even sure now that I know every shot that I should hit, if I could hit it."

Phil Mickelson played half a round yesterday and hasn’t played a full round at Oakmont since injuring his wrist there chipping out of the thick rough last month. He wasn’t scheduled to tee off until this afternoon.

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