WEATHER PERMITTING: Severe weather wreaked havoc on Merion Golf Club yesterday, with play being suspended twice and forcing players such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy (right) to resume their first round today. (
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BARDMORE, Pa. — Phil’s Excellent Adventure began at an eighth-grade graduation outside of San Diego on Wednesday night and it ended with the clubhouse lead in the first round of the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club outside of Philadelphia yesterday.
Mickelson flew home to California on Monday to attend the graduation of his oldest daughter, Amanda.
The ceremony, where Amanda made a speech and quoted the great fictional “Anchorman’’ movie character Ron Burgundy, began at 6 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday.
Mickelson boarded his Gulfstream V jet later that evening and landed in the Philadelphia area at 3:30 a.m.
He slept for about two hours on the plane and another hour at the home he rented seven-tenths of a mile from the course, and was at Merion to warm up for his 7:11 a.m. tee time by about 5:30 a.m.
Then all he did was go out and shoot a 3-under 67 to take the lead in the clubhouse in the weather-halted opening round, which will be completed beginning at 7:15 a.m. today before the second round begins.
Luke Donald, who was 4-under through 13 holes when play was suspended, is actually in the lead. The marquee group featuring the top three players in the world was on the 11th hole when play was suspended at 8:26 p.m. Rory McIlroy (even-par) and Adam Scott (3-under) finished the hole, while Tiger Woods (2-over) marked his ball on the green.
As for Mickelson, no sleep? No problem.
“I feel great,’’ Mickelson said after the round.
And why wouldn’t he? He played beautifully, hitting 14 of 18 greens, making round-saving par-saves from gnarly spots on Nos. 3, 5 and 6, and throwing in four birdies for good measure.
When it was over, it was easy to tell which event in the last 24 hours pleased Mickelson most — his daughter’s graduation beat out yesterday’s 67 in a landslide.
“Four kids spoke [at the graduation] and she was one that was chosen,’’ Mickelson said. “She did a great job and she even quoted Ron Burgundy [played by Will Ferrell], so it was funny. I was really glad I was there.’’
Mickelson said Amanda, while complimenting six or seven of her fellow students for projects they had accomplished in school, told her classmates, “You know, in the words of the great Ron Burgundy, ‘We’re kind of a big deal.’ ’’
What Mickelson did yesterday was a big deal, because he has been runner-up in the U.S. Open a record five times and has been open about how this is the championship he always coveted most.
Mickelson, who turns 43 on Sunday, started on the 11th hole, which he three-putted for bogey.
“It wasn’t the greatest start,’’ Mickelson said. “But it’s funny, Bones [caddie Jim Mackay] and I have a saying because I’ve had some of my best rounds of my career that have started with a bogey. We just kind of looked at each other and laughed and said, ‘You know, great rounds have started with bogey.’
“And that happened to be the last one I made.’’
Indeed, Mickelson played the rest of his round in 4-under.
“I was as interested as anybody,’’ Steve Stricker, one of Mickelson’s playing partners, said of how he would play after his odyssey. “When he three-putted the first hole I thought, ‘Oh boy, here we go.’ But he putted great and played great.’’
The keys to Mickelson’s round were the par saves on Nos. 5 and 6 after a poor tee shot on No. 5 and a poor approach shot on No. 6 left him in bad places.
“I think in the U.S. Open par saves are as big or bigger than birdies because you don’t really expect birdies,’’ Mickelson said. “Those two par putts, those are the momentum builders. They actually give you more of a boost than birdies do.’’
As for his unconventional approach to this Open, Mickelson said, “Yeah, it might be abnormal, but it actually worked out really well. I got all my work done on Merion when I was here a week and a half ago.”
“This is not that out of the ordinary,’’ Mickelson said of his cross-country overnight flight. “I do this about six, 10 times a year where I fly back east on a red-eye, play some outing and then come home. So it’s not out of the ordinary.’’
Yes, but those six or 10 times are not taking place before the opening round of the U.S. Open. Ordinary? Not so much.
mark.cannizzaro@nypost.com
