Mickelson goes side to side to move up board

Beauty, when it comes to rounds of golf, arrives in various flavours.

Bogey-free and six-under 66, as Carl Pettersson was in Thursday’s opening round of the US PGA Championship, would surely please purists — especially when it unfolds thanks to hitting 12 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens. Crisp ball-striking is simply something to be admired.

Yet later on Thursday, an equally fascinating round of golf was put forth, though you may have gotten motion sickness had you followed along. Phil Mickelson hit but five fairways and seven greens and was in more trouble than a 13-year-old juvenile delinquent.

At the par-five seventh, the lefthander was just two yards off the fairway with another errant drive, “but I was in stuff that was taller than me”.

It wasn’t the only hole where Mickelson found trouble. Easier to recall those when he wasn’t in danger, yet for all his miscues and mishaps, the irrepressible one was at his scrambling best, a thrill ride of the highest quality. Where 78 loomed, Mickelson shot 73. At least that was the conventional thinking. Only the left-hander rarely sees things as others do; he thought it could have been a very good day.

“It could have been quite higher [than 73],” Mickelson conceded. “But it could have been quite a bit lower, too.”

Say what you want about Mickelson, so long as you say this: If he didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.

Begin with the fact that you can always count on Mickelson to be the contrarian. It’s borderline comical, always entertaining. For instance, following the difficult scoring conditions in round two yesterday morning, Graeme McDowell and others were questioning the course set-up.

“They didn’t give us much love out there with the pins,” McDowell said after shooting four-over 76 to get halfway home in level par 144.

Mickelson, however, was positively gushing. “The PGA of America really has it dialed in,” he said.

Now granted, Mickelson had very little to complain about. His round of 71 may not sound like much, but it was the second best of a wild morning when players had to contend with 30-to-35mph wind and some rain squalls. Having started his round tied for 66th, Mickelson was joint 22nd when he signed his card, so clearly he had had a positive experience.

Then again, doesn’t he always? Sure seems that way and for another layer of flavour that Mickelson brings to the table, there’s the recent story of him becoming a part of a group that is buying the baseball team in his home town, the San Diego Padres. And make no mistake — this is more personal than financial.

“I’m really looking forward to kind of bringing [the Padres] back together with the community,” Mickelson said. “There’s been a bit of a disconnect the last few years, and understandably so.”

Ah, Phil. There’s no one else like him. While so many of his colleagues are trying to make birdies and avoid bogeys, he’s taking on issues about pitchers and catchers. Sure he said he won’t be involved in the day-to-day operations, but come on. He’s Phil.

“I’m a big believer if you get the right people you let them do their job, and I am not the right person on the team, they are,” Mickelson insists, but do you believe he’ll be able to resist?

It’s in his blood to be aggressive, to get involved, to meet the challenge head on.

He was not very good on Thursday, even on a day when scoring was possible. So he was committed to a full attack mode yesterday, no matter the conditions.

Few could have met the brutal morning scoring conditions and turned it into a 71, yet that’s what Mickelson did to vault into contention.

He’ll get busy rebuilding the Padres in due time.

First, he’s got designs on getting himself a fifth Major championship. In his own inimitable style, of course.