Phil Mickelson off to flyer after putting family first

WHEN Phil Mickelson opened with a bogey in the first round of the US Open at Merion today, his critics were preparing to bury him.

WHEN Phil Mickelson opened with a bogey in the first round of the US Open at Merion today, his critics were preparing to bury him.

By the time he had finished at Merion Golf Club , however, they came only to praise him.

To say that Mickelson is a player of the unconventional variety would be like saying Sergio Garcia likes a little moan every now and then .

And yet by his own standards, Mickelson's "red eye" flight from California will take some beating. He had flown home to San Diego to be at his daughter's school graduation the night before and flew back to Philadelphia in time to make his 7.11am tee time.

He had managed to dodge the storms that were crossing the country - and that later ravaged the course, causing a 3 and a half-hour suspension of play early in the day - and made light of his lack of sleep. Mind you, his sumptuous private jet would have helped.

Mickelson has tried most things in his quest to win the US Open, so why not this? His three-under-par round of 67 represented his best opening round in the championship in 14 years and has set him up nicely for the challenge that lies ahead. It gave him an early clubhouse lead of two strokes over Nicolas Colsaerts and three over three others.

After dropping a shot at the 11th, his first, he picked up birdies at the 1st, 7th and 9th and looked completely comfortable on a course that punished anything wayward. The rough was thick, wet and claggy.

Mickelson, three times a winner of the Masters, has finished runner-up five times in the past and is determined to go one better. When it comes to family, though, they come first. And good on him.

Most interesting was his decision to keep the driver out of the bag for what is a short course by modern standards. It allowed him to play with five wedges, clubs with which he is a magician. He won the 2006 Masters with two drivers in his bag, one set up for a draw, the other for a fade, so who can challenge him now?

So how was the flight?

"It was good. I loved having an early tee time," he said. "I wish we didn't have the rain delay, though, because it made for a little bit of a longer day. But the golf course is playing about as easy as it could and yet Merion is really fighting hard. We were having a hard time scoring low here. It's so demanding."

Mickelson made light of his schedule, however, having done all the work that he needed the week before.

"When I was here for a few days beforehand, I was able to get all the work done that I needed and then the last part heading into today's round was to get my game sharp; to get my touch my ball-striking sharp.

"I didn't need any course prep. I knew how it was going to play with all four different winds. I knew what clubs I was going to hit off each tee. All that stuff already was decided."

And so it proved. While Mickelson was able to finish in good spirits, Ian Poulter was left kicking himself for letting the round get away from him. The Englishman had opened with three birdies to take an early lead, but lost some momentum when he returned from the weather delay.

A round of 71 seemed a poor return in the end and was made up of five birdies, four bogeys, a double bogey and eight pars. He played much better than some of those scores would suggest and will be hoping for better in the second round.

And what of Garcia, who had been worried about a backlash from the galleries after the furore over his racist gibe towards Tiger Woods, but found that it was the course that gave him most grief?

After dropping a stroke at the 11th, his first, the Spaniard proceeded to drive balls out of bounds at the 14th and 15th, where he had a double bogey followed by a quadruple bogey, and looked to be going nowhere fast.

All credit to him then, that he managed to pick up strokes on the way home - a birdie at the 1st and an eagle at the 2nd helped - to limit the damage in a round of 73. He is still in it.

The Times