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From The Australian

STUART APPLEBY is about the most easygoing, likeable player in golf. He''s usually quick with a one-liner but yesterday he stormed off the Torrey Pines course, hardly in the mood for jokes after, sadly, turning himself into one.

The Victorian started the day leading the US Open by a stroke but seven bogeys and one double bogey later, he would have shot 80 had it not been for a putt that somehow fell for birdie on the last.

A cruel wit in the Media centre noted that Appleby got his capitulation out of the way a day earlier than he usually does; a reference to his poor showings when in contention at majors.

Appleby set the tone on the opening hole when, after hitting a beautiful drive which split the fairway, pulled an iron into a bunker, then made a feeble wave at a four-foot par putt.

His performance on the greens would get worse, much worse. On the 5th hole, Appleby made an awful run at a 20-foot birdie putt, then missed a short par putt coming back.

But then he missed the next one, too. On the 9th, Appleby had a three-foot putt for birdie, shoved it to the right - it didn''t even scare the hole - then fanned the par putt, walking off with bogey. "Obviously, there''s a lot of pressure on him," his good friend, Robert Allenby said.

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