With the New York crowd cheering him on, Phil Mickelson opens PGA Championship with a 69

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – In addition to being the people’s choice for the third straight time that a major championship has been contested on the Black course of Bethpage State Park, Phil Mickelson discovered a new feature from the crowd that cheered him on to a 1-under-par 69 Thursday in the opening round of the PGA Championship.

“A lot of guys were showing me their calves,” Mickelson said. “I don't know how I feel about that. It's a little awkward. But it was interesting.”

The display likely was in response to Mickelson’s conducting his final practice session in shorts on Wednesday. But it was just another part of what endears him to the New York audience, along with the two runner-up finishes he had here in the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens.

“I really appreciate all the support,” he said. “It’s just the best.”

Mickelson, the 2005 PGA champion just down the road at Baltusrol, got off to a slow start Thursday. Back-to-back bogeys at 7 and 8 dropped him to 2-over, but he came back with birdies at the ninth, 11th, and 12th holes.

He parred in from there, including a difficult 2-putt at the par-3 17th, and a 6-foot putt after hitting his approach shot at 18 into the left bunker.

“I just wasn’t putting well the first eight holes,” he said, “and Tim, my brother [and caddie], noticed that I was kind of up and out of it a little bit. So I made a slight adjustment, and I made four really good putts on 9, 10, 11, and 12.”

Mickelson was holding his right elbow after hitting out of the rough at the 18th hole, but he said he was all right.

“It feels fine now,” he said. “I kind of jarred it out of the rough. That happens with stuff that thick, but hopefully it just goes away, which it kind of did.”