Golf: Mickelson keeps his head together

For 4 hours and 59 minutes on Friday, from start to finish of his opening 18 holes at the rain-delayed US Open, Phil Mickelson tried to find sanctuary in the game where he's ranked ahead of all but one person in the world.

The reminders of what his wife, Amy, and the rest of his family are going through are everywhere, starting with the pink ribbons on either side of Mickelson's golf hat.

But what Amy Mickelson - diagnosed with breast cancer last month - wants this week is the silver trophy awarded to the champion, and her guy got off to a good start in his quest to deliver, boosted by one of the biggest upsurges of fan support seen for many years.

Mickelson shot a 1-under 69 in the first round, putting him five shots behind Mike Weir, and then stayed even par for 11 holes of the second round before bad light stopped play - with Lucas Glover (US) leading on 6-under par after 13 holes in his second round.

It was a day late in coming but the New York roar finally arrived at the US Open, largely inspired by an erratic Mickelson who might have been five shots off the lead, tied for 11th, but was also five shots ahead of tournament favourite Tiger Woods, tied for 65th.

"I think the conditions right now will never get easier throughout the week," Mickelson said. "We want to play as much golf as we can today. We certainly were on the better end of the tee times."

Lee Trevino loved to say that what mattered in golf was not how, but how many. By that measure, Woods definitely had too many , but it was how he collected them that might have been more discouraging still.

About the only hopeful thing to be said about Woods' 4-over 74 in the first round is that he made two double bogeys in his first round at San Diego last year, too, and still managed to close the gap - even though it took him 91 holes to do it. But there, he salvaged a 1-over 71 that left him four shots behind the leaders after one round.

This time, Woods already is staring at a 10-shot deficit, and the most he's ever made up after a disastrous first round is seven shots, at the 2005 Masters.

Woods missed four putts inside 10 feet and three of them were over the closing four holes.

Meanwhile, with Amy at home in California preparing for surgery, Mickelson somehow managed to keep his focus.

He was miraculous one hole, ridiculous the next. On the 11th (his second) the 39-year-old struck his approach to two feet; on the 13th (his fourth) he pulled his drive so calamitously the ball was never found. It continued in that vein thereafter, with his putter switching from hero to villain with giddying haste.

Even the most perfunctory scan of today's forecast confirmed that a wash-out today is on the depressing side of likely and that means Tiger and the rest of his half of the draw could have a long wait to resume.