On a Tiger-Phil-Adam day, play really isn't the thing

One problem. The ball lands safely in the left side of the fairway, at least 15 feet from the rough, not in the trees. Mackay had nearly fainted when the guy started waving like the ball was headed toward the Pacific Ocean.

"That guy almost gave me a stroke," Mackay said to Woods' caddie, Steve Williams. "That marshal must hit it really, really straight."

16th hole

After he again had saved par on the 15th with a 20-footer, Woods misses a birdie effort from 10 feet.

Whether it's rust or pain, or perhaps some of both, something doesn't seem right. In his first start since the final round of the Masters two months ago, he's clearly favoring his left knee. When he retrieves the ball from the hole, he bends down with his weight on his right knee.

He's walking very deliberately at times. Sure, the guy has played with an ailing knee for months, but it looks painful at the moment.

17th hole

Mickelson's approach shot rolls off the back of the green and into deep rough near a sprinkler head. He requests a free drop from Vernon, who rather charitably green-lights Mickelson's request even though the sprinkler isn't anywhere near his stance.

Mickelson pulls his 3-wood from the bag to measure his relief area, then drops the ball back in the rough. If he'd been carrying his longer driver, he might have been able to drop the ball on the short fringe.

Another reason never to give your big stick the heave, right?

18th hole

Woods absolutely crushes a drive on the closing par-5 hole and has only a 7-iron remaining, but the energy expended on the tee leaves his visibly ailing.

He limps to the back of the tee and pulls his cap over his eyes to cover a grimace. He admits later that the drive "didn't feel very good, no."

That didn't leave him hurting nearly as much as the three-putt green a few minutes later, which left him with a 1-over 72, one shot worse than Mickelson and a stroke better than Scott's 73.

The grandstands surrounding the 18th are packed to overflowing and most of the fans are clearly in Mickelson's corner. In fact, despite the fact that Woods has won the past four Buick Invitational titles, Mickelson's fans seem to greatly outnumber the Woods' gallery gang.

"Bring a championship to San Diego, Phil," a man in the grandstands roars.

This time, Mickelson flashes a thumbs-up sign, then two putts for a birdie to end the day at level par.

In the aftermath, the three give the USGA experiment to pair the top dozen players by their world ranking positive reviews.

"Overall, it wasn't as bad as I thought," Woods said. "I haven't seen this many (media) people inside the ropes before. We estimated it was over a hundred. I'm sure that's probably what it was."

As her husband discusses his round with the press, Amy Mickelson at last comes back into view, sort of like she was washed back to the sand on the nearby shoreline. Nobody in her small group of friends got trampled underfoot, which was a tremendous relief.

Congestion and clogged sightlines aside, it was well worth the 18-hole walk to watch history, she said.

"Other than a couple of bottlenecks out there, it was great," she said. "I think that because this was a U.S. Open crowd, they were a little bit more respectful and golf-savvy."