SOUTHAMPTON, June 18: Argentina's Angel Cabrera grabbed a share of the lead in the US Open when he completed his storm-hit first round here on Friday.

The 34-year-old is tied at four-under par with veteran Jay Haas and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama who completed their round on Thursday.

Only a shot back is American Corey Pavin, who won the last US Open to be held here in 1995. Nine players were locked together at two-under including pre-tournament favourites, Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, who both had to finish their first rounds on Friday.

Also at two-under was reigning British Open champion Ben Curtis along with Americans Jeff Maggert, Kris Cox, David Roesch, Skip Kendall, Kevin Stadler and Steve Flesch. Cabrera had a chance to have the lead to himself when he birided his first hole on Friday to go five-under but he followed it up with a double bogey.

A birdie at the next put him back level with Haas and Maruyama. Ireland's Padraig Harrington, who closed his first round on Friday with a three-over 73, had to quickly turn round to start the second round.

The Dubliner got the perfect start when he opened birdie, birdie. Tiger Woods, who carded a two-over 72 was amongst the late starters on Friday. A total of 57 players had to complete their first round on Friday after a thunderstorm stopped play for over two hours on Thursday afternoon.

Leading first round scores

66 - Jay Haas 33-33, Shigeki Maruyama 34-32, Angel Cabrera 31-35

67 - Corey Pavin 33-34

68 - Jeff Maggert 34-34, Kris Cox 34-34, David Roesch 36-32, Ben Curtis 34-34, Skip Kendall 35-33, Kevin Stadler 35-33, Phil Mickelson 34-34, Vijay Singh 34-34, Steve Flesch 33-35

69 - Brian Gay 32-37, Tim Petrovic 34-35, Trevor Immelman 33-36, Spencer Levin 36-33, Mike Weir 33-36, Bo Van Pelt 34-35

70 - Phillip Price 35-35, Hidemichi Tanaka 34-36, Robert Allenby 34-36, Ernie Els 34-36, Fred Funk 35-35, Joe Ogilvie 35-35, Zachary Johnson 37-33, Craig Parry 36-34, Retief Goosen 35-35, Billy Mayfair 34-36

71 - Dudley Hart 32-39, Mark Calcavecchia 34-37, Casey Wittenberg 36-35, Peter Lonard 35-36, Chris DiMarco 38-33, Shaun Micheel 37-34, Kirk Triplett 34-37, Justin Leonard 37-34, Scott Verplank 35-36, Brendan Jones 37-34

72 - Chris Riley 37-35, Eduardo Romero 35-37, Sergio Garcia 36-36, Tom Kite 35-37, Tiger Woods 36-36, Chad Campbell 36-36, Jim Furyk 36-36, Cliff Kresge 36-36, Eric Axley 36-36, Dennis Paulson 37-35, Rory Sabbatini 35-37, Geoffrey Sisk 34-38, Duffy Waldorf 36-36, Spike McRoy 34-38, Lee Janzen 35-37, Stephen Leaney 35-37, J.P. Hayes 35-37, Bill Haas 34-38, Toshi Izawa 38-34, Carl Paulson 38-34

73 - Brian Davis 36-37, Nathan Smith 37-36, Brad Lardon 38-35, Brock Mackenzie 35-38, Daniel Chopra 36-37, Charleton Dechert 37-36, Briny Baird 37-36, Lee Westwood 39-34, Camilo Villegas 37-36, Tom Pernice 39-34, Andrew Tschudin 38-35, John Connelly 35-38, Timothy Clark 35-38, Bubba Watson 35-38, Dan Olsen 37-36, Padraig Harrington 37-36, David Toms 35-38, Pat Perez 39-34, Chez Reavie 34-39, Darren Clarke 36-37, Bob Tway 37-36, Nick Price 36-37, J.L. Lewis 39-34

74 - Joakim Haeggman 38-36, Jonathan Byrd 36-38, Rich Beem 36-38, Dan Forsman 37-37, Paul Casey 36-38, Brad Faxon 36-38, Kenny Perry 35-39, Steve Allan 37-37, Ian Poulter 36-38, Bob Estes 35-39, Mark Brooks 38-36, Tom Carter 36-38, Tripp Isenhour 37-37, Stewart Cink 36-38, Stephen Ames 38-36, Robert Garrigus 39-35

75 - Alex Cejka 37-38, Scott Hoch 37-38, Raymond Floyd 36-39, Gabriel Hjertstedt 38-37, Jeff Gove 39-36, David Morland 38-37, David Faught (RSA) 39-36, J.J. Henry 38-37, Thomas Levet (FRA) 38-37, Tim Herron 36-39, Fredrik Jacobson 39-36, Fred Couples 39-36, Adam Scott 36-39, Steve Stricker 39-36, Scott Hend 40-35, Charles Howell 39-36, Omar Uresti 38-37, Parker McLachlin 36-39, Stephen Sokol 37-38, Justin Hicks 38-37

76 - John Elliott 39-37, John Senden 36-40, Davis Love 41-35, Tom Byrum 36-40, Kevin Sutherland 38-38, Craig Bowden 37-39, Matthew Gogel 36-40, Steve Gotsche 38-38, Leif Olson 38-38, John Rollins 39-37, Payton Osborn 38-38, Jerry Kelly 36-40, K.J. Choi 37-39, Paul Lawrie 37-39, Scott Weatherly 36-40, John Douma 38-38

77 - Johnson Wagner 39-38, Thomas Bjorn 41-36, Jonathan Kaye 41-36, Todd Hamilton 38-39, Miguel Angel Jimenez 38-39, Chris Smith 38-39, Justin Rose 40-37

78 - Casey Bourque 36-42, Jimmy Green 41-37, Oscar Alvarez 37-41, Michael Campbell 37-41, Joey Maxon 37-41

79 - Joey Sindelar 42-37, Pete Jordan 39-40, Aaron Baddeley 41-38, Stuart Appleby 36-43, Roger Tambellini 38-41

80 - Nick Flanagan 39-41

81 - Nick Faldo 40-41

83 - David Duval 40-43, David Carr 42-41. -AFP