Four! Is the Shout After First Round

The pager sits snugly on the belt of caddie Jim McKay.

At one of the quietest sports events on earth, the pager is programmed to beep loudly.

“I want to be able to hear it,” Phil Mickelson said. “Even if I’m in the middle of a backswing, I want to be able to hear it.”

The private plane is fueled up at a nearby hangar.

At one of the slowest moving sports events on earth, a man is ready to fly.

“I have it all timed out. . . . I can make it to the hospital in Phoenix in 5 hours and 15 minutes,” Mickelson says. “I might even fly the plane myself.”

The decision rests easily in the heart of the expectant father.

Shortly after grabbing a share of the first-round lead of the U.S. Open on Thursday with a three-under-par 67, Mickelson reiterated a plan that has made the Pinehurst cigar smokers choke and gin sippers blink.

If his wife, Amy, goes into labor with their first child this weekend at their Phoenix home, he is leaving the tournament to be with her.

It doesn’t matter when.

It doesn’t matter where he stands.

It doesn’t matter that Mickelson is one of the best players to never win a major tournament.

It doesn’t matter that this could be his best chance yet.

“There is a U.S. Open every year . . . but having your first child is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said. “When I was 20, I thought the majors were so important, I don’t know how I would feel. But now I realize, this birth is something I do not want to miss.

“As soon as that beeper goes off, I’m headed to the airport.”

A Father’s Day weekend indeed.

*

While shuffling down the 17th fairway Thursday, looking as always like a man weary of searching for a lost dog, something around Phil Mickelson loudly snapped.

It was the strap on his golf bag.

He smiled with relief.

Usually in tournaments like this, that break occurs in his long game. Or his chipping. Or simply in his head.

He has been a full-time tour member since June 1992.

He has won 13 tournaments and more than $7 million.

Yet in 27 major tournaments, he has never finished higher than third.

Some have said he is soft. Other have said he is simply overrated.

This week was going to change all that.

With its challenges around the green--Mickelson’s specialty--Pinehurst No. 2 fit him like a golf glove.

“The short game had become obsolete in past U.S. Opens, but this year it’s an integral part of the game,” Mickelson said. “This is the best test of golf that I’ve played in a major tournament.”

Which is occurring at the same time he is being tested as a man.

After undergoing a difficult pregnancy, Mickelson’s wife visited the doctor Tuesday for the final word.

Should Phil stay home with her this week, or will the baby wait?

The doctor said if everything continues normally, the baby will not be due until June 30, or 10 days after Sunday’s final round.

“But obviously, with labor, you never know,” Mickelson said.

He and his wife discussed it, and worried about it, and at the last minute, Mickelson decided to go for it.

He jumped a plane and landed in Pinehurst late Tuesday and played a hastily arranged practice round Wednesday--one fewer than most players--and then showed up early Thursday morning with a smile.

And a pager on his caddie.

And a cell phone in his bag.

“Actually, we’re not nervous wrecks at all,” caddie McKay said. “If he plays well, great. And if he has to go home for the baby, well, that’s also great.”

He played that way too. He birdied three of the first five holes, then matched partner and co-leader David Duval down the stretch.

He sank a 30-foot downhill putt and an 18-foot putt for a birdies. He chipped in from 25 feet for a birdie.

Then he finished the round with a 10-foot uphill par putt to keep his name tightly next to Duval’s--and soon those of Billy Mayfair and Paul Goydos--atop the leaderboard.

“In other Opens, if you miss the green, you are going to struggle to get par or bogey,” Mickelson said. “Here, you can get it back.”

If you are both precise and creative, you can.

Which is exactly how Mickelson is also dealing with his other issue.

First, there is the code.

When he hears the beep, he will walk over to his caddie and check the pager for the code. It is a password devised by him and his wife so he will not flee the U.S. Open because of a phone call from some fan.

Then, there is the airplane.

It is a private jet, and a co-pilot is waiting, which doesn’t mean that licensed pilot Mickelson won’t fly it himself.

“It all depends,” he said, smiling.

For the sake of his co-pilot, who has probably never endured the turbulence of an expectant father, let’s hope he doesn’t.

Then there’s the trust.

Mickelson is certain his wife will call him even though she might feel momentarily guilty if she goes into labor while watching him lead the tournament with nine holes remaining.

“We talked about it, and she knows how important this is to me, and she will call me,” he said. “I’ll be very disappointed if she doesn’t.”

So, one guesses, would little Amanda Brynn Mickelson.

There’s this pretty neat guy she just has to meet.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.