PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. - He said it was different, and it certainly was. Ten years different. Nine strokes different. "Now what are we to get from Tiger Woods?'' different.

Tiger owned Pebble Beach, figuratively speaking, 10 years ago. Tiger owned the U.S. Open, starting with a 65 and ending up a cumulative 12-under par. Tiger owned golf.

But that was then. And now after the first round of the 2010 Open, all he owns is a 3-over par 74, nine shots higher than the first round of 2000.

No one expected a repeat. "The course is totally different,'' said Woods after his wind-blown start on Thursday. But no one expected 18 holes without a birdie, either. Which is what Tiger Woods had.

Along did Phil Mickelson.

The players first, Tiger, and second, Phil, in the world rankings. And not a single birdie between them, an occurrence which could be judged someplace between unlikely and impossible. Until it happened.

Woods a 74 with three bogeys. Mickelson, the tournament favorite, a 75, with four bogeys.

"I made mistakes you can't afford,'' said Woods.

Back to Pebble Beach. Back to past triumphs. Back to the bumpy greens and sloshing surf and postcard scenery. But so far not back to the brilliant golf of a decade earlier.

The second major for Woods after his return from the accident, the revelations, the rehab. He surprised us with a tie for fourth in the Masters. But this was no surprise. For those believing Tiger of 2010 was Tiger of old, this was a disappointment.

He's not out of it. Not after one round of a tournament in which positions on the leader board change with frightening speed.

A scuffed wedge - like the one Ernie Els had on 17, costing him a double-bogey. A 20-foot putt, like the one Shaun Micheel had on 18, tying him for the lead at 1-under 69 with Paul Casey and Brendon de Jonge. And places shift.

"You have to be patient,'' said Woods, reiterating the litany. "There's a long way to go.''

The way Woods went Thursday was for him the wrong way. He knew he would have problems teeing off at 1:36 p.m, after dozens of golfers had trampled the greens and the rough had grown longer, if only incrementally.

"It was so bouncy out there,'' Tiger said. "The greens are just awful. It's poa three in the afternoon, and they're fast.''

That's poa annua, the grass along the California coast, which turns putts off line and turns golfers into angry young men.

"You know they're going to be bouncing all over the place, and you can't leave yourself a (long) second putt. The morning guys have a chance. I played all my practice rounds in the morning, and the greens are smoother, but they're still very firm.''

Woods said he 3-putted twice and laid up in a bunker.

"Those are mistakes,'' he allowed, "you just can't afford to make.''

Someone wondered, not very smartly, whether Tiger was thinking about his rounds of 2000 as he went about his first round this time. The answer should have been obvious. Athletes stay in the present.

"No,'' said Woods. "Don't forget this is a completely different design, a complete re-do from when we played (in 2000). The holes are much different, and the bunkering is much different. A few of the trees are different.

What people can't quite figure is whether Tiger is different, although prima facie he would seem to be. In those weeks without competition, those weeks when he was the target of every tabloid and comedy show, did Woods lose any of his intensity, not to mention his game?

Does it mean anything that Woods may no longer have a wife or that Woods no longer has a coach? Has his confidence ebbed? Is the self-belief as strong as it ever was or has doubt crept into the equation?

In the pre-tournament interview, Tiger showed the old verve and focus, chastising a reporter who had the temerity to inquire about the state of Woods' apparently dissolved marriage, talking like someone dead set on adding a fourth Open and 15th major to his achievements.

Then, a struggle when competition begins.

"It is what it is,'' said Woods, a line he uses frequently. "There's no one making a lot of putts out there. No one is going low. You just can't. The afternoon guys can't. The morning guys have a chance.''

The second round, Tiger will be a morning guy.

But will he be a factor in this 2010 U.S. Open?

It is time to find out.