Tiger Woods said Wednesday he has not spoken to Sergio Garcia and has no plans to do so after the golfers got into a spat that was sparked by racially-tinged comments from the Spaniard. Speaking at the Memorial Tournament on Wednesday, Woods said he does not expect to broach the subject when the two compete at the US Open in two weeks. "That's already done with," said Woods, the day before he tees it up to try and defend his title at the Muirfield Village Golf Club. Last week in England, Garcia misfired when making a joke about spending time with Woods at the US Open.

Pan Cheng-Tsung, a 21-year-old amateur golfer from Taiwan, has played his way into contention at the US Open, snagging a share of third place halfway into his darkness-halted second round. Pan finished off a two-over par 72 opening round on Friday, a day after storms halted play at Merion for more than four hours, then went two-under par for nine holes of his second round to stand on level par for the tournament.

Phil Mickelson, a five-time runner-up hungry to finally claim the title, seized a one-stroke lead early in Thursday's first round of the US Open at tough-playing Merion. Mickelson birdied the par-4 seventh, his 15th hole of the day, to stand on two-under, one stroke ahead of fellow Americans Jerry Kelly and Shawn Stefani, England's Ian Poulter, South Africa's George Coetzee, Irish amateur Kevin Phelan and Canadian Mike Weir. Half the field of 156 had yet to tee off after a morning thunderstorm halted play for more than three and a half hours.

By Mark Lamport-Stokes ARDMORE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - Merion Golf Club has been linked with some of the most iconic moments in championship golf and Tiger Woods will aim to add a chapter of his own at this week's U.S. Open where he is a heavy favorite. A host of other players can lay claim to being genuine contenders for the year's second major, which begins on Thursday, but Woods is widely viewed as the likeliest winner based on his outstanding record and the often dominant form he has shown this season.