The New York Times-20080124-Woods and Mickelson- Real Season Begins

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Woods and Mickelson: Real Season Begins

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Too early for hang gliders, Black's Beach surfers and nude sunbathers -- but not soon enough for golf lovers -- the world's two best golfers answered the 6:42 a.m. bell Wednesday in the final tuneup for the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines Golf Course. As the full moon hung in the sky above the Pacific and the sun peeked over the eastern hills beyond Sorrento Valley, Tiger Woods teed up his ball at No. 1 on Torrey Pines South and Phil Mickelson did the same on No. 1 at Torrey Pines North.

One month into the PGA Tour season, the stars finally came out. Woods and Mickelson, Mickelson and Woods, the game's biggest draws and most important rivals, have emerged from hibernation to signal the de facto start of the golf year.

It began simultaneously on tees separated by about 50 yards, at a place as familiar to each man as his own den. Woods, 32, who won his first title here in the 1991 junior worlds, has won five Buick Invitationals, including the last three in a row. Mickelson, 36, who won numerous high school matches here in the mid-1980s for University High, has three Buick Invitational titles on his record.

This scenic golf course set on the cliffs above Black's Beach, believed to be the only municipally approved nude beach this side of the French Riviera, takes on added significance because it is also the site of the United States Open in June. Coming off a seven-victory year, Woods recently wrote on his Web site that he believed sweeping the four major championships during the 2008 season was easily within reason, serving notice to his already beleaguered Tour colleagues that he has penciled in another undoable feat on his to-do list under Win Grand Slam.

Well, he's obviously a very confident player, and he should be, Mickelson said. He's won countless events and double-digit majors -- how many is it? -- 13, there you go. So he should be confident.

Mickelson's goals may be as lofty, but he has not announced them as such. Last year began as if it might be a monster year, with wins at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Players Championship before the summer, but it leveled off when he seriously injured his wrist preparing for the United States Open at Oakmont. He won one more event, the Deutsche Bank Championship, late in the year in a memorable head-to-head duel with Woods.

I think that this year I should be able to put myself in contention as well, and I look forward to the opportunity to compete against him, Mickelson said.

So now the battle is rejoined on familiar turf. Fighting off bronchitis that has lingered for almost three months, Mickelson was jovial as he worked his way around the North Course, lining up putts for and playfully lobbing barbs at his pro-am partners. His voice raspy, his head hatless (an endorsement deal with the sponsor Bearing Point is being re-examined after a corporate shakeup there), Mickelson looked leaner and stronger, frequently pounding his drives deep.

Woods, as always, looked as if he had stepped off the cover of Men's Health on his way to a GQ photo shoot. Like Mickelson, he interacts easily with his pro-am partners and spends no time worrying about his pro-am score. He hit some good shots and a few not so good, but come Thursday he will probably be as ready as ever.

I'm certainly stronger, Woods said. I can't run five-minute miles like I could in high school, but everything feels pretty good. It's just a matter of getting out here and competing again. I've been playing and practicing to get my speed back and just really look forward to teeing it up. Playing money games back home isn't quite the same as being out here with the best players in the world.

This week, 8 of the top 20 players in the world are in the field. Many, like the world No. 7 K. J. Choi, back after a two-year absence, are here to scope out the course in advance of the Open.

After starting the season with limited television ratings on Golf Channel broadcasts of the Mercedes Championship, the Sony Open and the Bob HopeChrysler Classic, the tour is back in the network spotlight on CBS this week. Nothing stimulates ratings more than a combination of a Woods-Mickelson matchup at a scenic course with most of the country in the grip of a cold spell.

Just as the Giants-New England Patriots game at the end of the N.F.L. regular season provided football fans with a foreshadowing of the Super Bowl, this week at Torrey Pines will give golf fans a good insight into the United States Open in June.

Whoever wins will be the early favorite for the season's second major championship.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Tiger Woods, playing in the pro-am Wednesday, will make his first start of the year at the Buick Invitational on Thursday at Torrey Pines Golf Course.(PHOTOGRAPH BY MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS)