ESPN Commentary

MAMARONECK, N.Y. -- Here at the U.S. Wide Open, where Tiger Woods struggled to beat the first-round score of a 15-year-old amateur, Phil Mickelson yawned his way to a beautifully boring even-par 70. Par might not be Halle Berry sexy, but it works just fine at the grass torture chamber that is Winged Foot Golf Club.

Weird day. Tiger shoots a 76 and, at times, looks like he can't win a Junior Golf tournament, much less our Open. Meanwhile, Mickelson, the apparent choice of New Yorkers and Sopranos everywhere, patiently works his way around a course that gave up exactly one round in red numbers on Thursday. You needed to chug a couple of cans of Mountain Dew to stay awake during most of Lefty's workday.

This is good news, by the way, for Phil Phanatics. The last thing he needs is to channel his Inner Lefty of olden days. Remember that Mickelson? It didn't matter if his ball was in the fairway, Jimmy Hoffa'd in the rough, or sitting on parking lot concrete ... Mickelson would occasionally make the impossible possible. And other times he'd leave with a double bogey.

But the New and Constantly Improving Phil picked his spots during a gusty morning round that added another set of molars to Winged Foot's West Course. As if this place needed more bite.

"I was very pleased with even-par," said Mickelson. "I would have taken it from the start."

Huh? This is Mickelson talking, right? What happened to the guy who never met a high-risk/high-reward shot he didn't like? Well, he's gone. Vanished. Get the Without A Trace people on this thing.

There's a reason why Mickelson is only one shot out of the lead, why he's won three of the last nine majors, including the last two. His mostly stress-free first round featured a handful of botched and errant shots, but nothing that required CPR. Tiger would have given part of his Florida island for Mickelson's 70.

"It looks on paper like it was a lot harder round than it felt," a relaxed Mickelson said of his day.

There were a few Mickelson drives that found their way into the "secondary" rough. Secondary rough, of course, is the tallest, thickest and most penal of the three levels of rough used by the U.S. Golf Association for this year's Open. In other words, not only can you lose your ball in the stuff, you can lose Ian Woosnam.

Mickelson muscled some Callaways out of the Filipino jungle, thanks to something he called a "chop shot." Whatever it was, it worked.

He got up and down all day. From bunkers. From the gunk. He sank a 40-footer on No. 18 (he started on the back nine) and another 30-foot bomb on No. 7 for birdies. He never had a mental meltdown, even when his par putt on No. 2 took a tour of the entire hole before spinning out ... or when he reached the par-5 fifth in two shots and then misjudged his eagle putt, missed the birdie putt and settled for par.

Instead, he kept reaching into his left back pocket for a black, leather notebook. The notebook contained his Winged Foot cheat sheet, full of little handwritten do's and don'ts. And if that wasn't enough, there were always the New Yorkers to shower him with back slaps and cheers.

The same crowd that once counted off Sergio Garcia's waggles ("26 ... 27 ... 28 ...") at the 2002 Open at Bethpage treats Mickelson like he's from the Bronx, not California. It got so sappy out there I thought we'd have a group hug.

"It's just a fun, fun place to come play golf," said Mickelson.

Sure it is, especially when "Go, Phil!" has replaced the "You Da Man!" of Tiger days. And you should have seen when a little kid, barely tall enough to see over the gallery ropes, politely spoke to Lefty as the golfer walked from the No. 1 green to the No. 2 tee box.

"Mr. Mickelson, you're my favorite," said the child. "Good luck."

Tear.

If Mickelson does win this thing and completes the third leg of the Tiger Slam, he can thank these fans. He can also sort of thank the USGA, which puts a premium on hitting fairways (Phil can do that), getting up and down from the short or gnarly stuff (Phil can do that), and handling the suffocating pressure of a major (Phil can do that, too).

Most of all, he can thank Evolving Phil and his motto of the week.

Par Is My Friend.

Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at gene.wojciechowski@espn3.com.