Phil Mickelson puts extra time into his putting as Tiger-Phil II approaches and Dave Pelz beams

LA JOLLA, Calif. (June 13, 2008) - It’s 10:45 a.m., nearly three hours before Tiger-Phil Duel II, and Phil Mickelson is the lone golfer on the putting green. He hits putt after putt as his apparently ever-increasingly-influential guru Dave Pelz looks on.

Pelz is wearing his trademark wide-brimmed straw hat and Mickelson’s trying to correct a problem from round one (a problem besides the fact that he couldn’t find a fairway on the front nine using his brainchild 3-wood strategy off the tee). Despite rallying to post an even-par 71 on day one, Mickelson didn’t hit any long putts. Or many medium ones. His good holes came when he basically gave himself gimmies on the green with great approaches.

So Mickelson putts and Pelz makes remarks. It’s more of a quirk than anything that Mickelson has the putting green to himself. More players who are teeing off in the afternoon or finishing up in the morning will arrive soon. But now it makes for an interesting scene with one golfer on the practice area as fans strain against the green barriers to get a good look.

Pelz certainly has to be happy. He’s long urged Phil to play an entire tournament without a driver, something Mickelson joked about while explaining his strategy.

“There you go Pelz,” he said.

Mickelson also brushed off Tiger Woods’ knock on the fuss over Mickelson going without a driver. Tiger dismissed it by saying Mickelson’s 3-wood is not a regular one, that it’s more like an old two-wood.

“It’s the same 3-wood I’ve been using all year,” Mickelson said.

Of course, these guys love each other.