Lee Janzen and Glenn Day experienced the agony and the ecstasy of the fifth hole Thursday.

Both reached the area in front of the fifth green in two.

Day strode away with a birdie after his chip found the bottom of the cup, while Janzen settled for a bogey.

Day’s chip-in was one of just five birdies at the fifth during the opening round of the U.S. Open. Janzen joined 71 others in recording bogeys on the 482-yard par four. Jose Maria Olazabal, this year’s Masters champion, chalked up one of four double bogeys.

Players averaged 4.494 strokes at the hole Thursday. Grant Masson took a seven. That stroke average earned it top honors when it came to hole difficulty ranking.

Hardest hole on the course?

Depends.

"Five is probably the hardest hole," Paul Goydos said after checking in with a 67, finishing along with three others in a tie for the lead after the completion of the first round of the 99th U.S. Open.

"It’s a demanding tee shot, and the (second) is an uphill shot to the green," Goydos continued. "It’s just a difficult hole. It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s the most difficult hole today."

The hole is the fifth longest par four in the 99-year history of the Open.

Guess what?

The 16th hole at No. 2 is the longest par four in the history of the Open. The eighth hole here is the second longest in Open history.

But the eighth hole was rated only the fourth toughest hole, while the 16th finished second in highest stroke average Thursday.

The 16th is a converted par five. For the Open, the hole’s par was dropped to four. The fifth has always been a par four, although golf architect Rees Jones added 32 yards to its length when he renovated the course in 1996.

Taking the fifth is a long way from legal jargon here at Pinehurst. It’s downright impossible. Looking from behind the tee box, the hole resembles a snake sleeping in the road. The eye follows the line of the fairway up toward the right before it curls slowly to the left, falling down into a blind area.

From there, the fairway ambles upward toward a slightly elevated green. And it can bite you just about as quick as a snake, if you get careless.

Just ask Phil Mickelson, another co-leader along with Goydos. The fifth is a "brutal hole," Mickelson said. And this from a man who was one of the five to birdie the hole Thursday.

"But number five is tough because it’s difficult," Mickelson said. "I don’t want to say impossible, but it’s very close to it to actually be on the putting surface (in two)."

Brutal, difficult, impossible.

It may just be that the waiting is the hardest part.

At least Tiger Woods believes that. Tiger Woods described the fifth as tougher than the 16th, mainly because of the wait involved at the hole.

"We had to wait a good 25, 30 minutes there," Woods said. "And that disrupts your rhythm. It’s not an easy tee shot to begin with. You can’t see the fairway. It’s a long hole. It played a little more difficult (than 16) because of that one reason."

That’s why there’s a volunteer, called a marker, out in the middle of the fairway holding a little black and yellow flag. It’s to protect the players that are waiting to hit their second shots. No tee shots are hit until the marker starts waving the flag.

And the group in the fairway is waiting because the group ahead of them are spending a lot of time chipping and putting on the right-to-left slanted green.

Mickelson described the difficulties in hitting the green. A shot that hits the front of the green trickles back, and a shot that hits the back keeps on running, Mickelson said.

"So now you’re dealing with a 30-foot circle," Mickelson said. "That’s a tight area to have a ball end up on a 490-yard par four."

It is said that Donald Ross considered the approach to this green the most difficult shot on the entire course.

Poll the players and they’ll probably say it’s one of the hardest, if not the hardest hole on the course.

Stay tuned throughout the next three days to the happenings at the fifth hole. Walking away with a par will be a good score at the hole. Anything else and you’ll be witnessing the agony or the ecstasy.