Low is way to go to top

It’s not easy to spot all the trends at the Nissan Open, where Padraig Harrington, who had never played the course before this week, is tied for the lead with Phil Mickelson, the unchallenged leader in creative commuting. Following closely is Charles Howell III, otherwise known as Mr. Second Place, in the unfamiliar position of third.

Of course that’s not even close to the entire updated cast. It’s hard to miss Sergio Garcia, especially the way he looked Friday at Riviera Country Club. What was he trying to say with his two-tone outfit, a collision of traffic-cone orange and wet-cement gray?

Garcia has never needed help from mere threads to stand out in a crowd. And after two rounds at Riviera, in his first PGA Tour event of the year, he is fashionably established in the mix and chasing Mickelson and Harrington for the $936,000 winner’s share.

Garcia is hardly alone in his pursuit, and after his three-under-par 68, Garcia is three shots off the lead, tied with David Howell, Pat Perez and Robert Allenby. Harrington, who got through another roller coaster back nine, shot 68 and posted a 36-hole score of 11-under 131 that Mickelson equaled. They are three shots ahead of Charles Howell.

Mickelson eagled the 17th hole, saved par at the 18th and wound up with a resounding 65, making the most of his personal frequent flier miles.

He flew home Thursday night and got to his house in Rancho Santa Fe before his caddie, Jim Mackay, reached his hotel near LAX.

“For me, it’s an hour commute, door to door,” Mickelson said. “It’s not bad at all.”

What was bad was the only bogey Mickelson has made -- at the par-three 16th when he found the right bunker, knocked it out and missed his seven-footer for par.

What was good was the way he followed it, with an eagle at the 590-yard par-five 17th.

Mickelson had 260 yards to the front of the green and swung a three-wood hard.

“I flushed it,” said Mickelson, who stopped the ball 15 feet from the hole, then rolled in the putt to catch Harrington at 11 under. “That was a nice way to end the round.”

Meanwhile, Charles Howell managed to become the tournament’s leading Howell. He threw his six-under 65 at Riviera, taking advantage of better conditions that came with an early-morning tee time.

Harrington said following up his first-round 63 wasn’t going to be easy and that anything in the 60s was going to be just fine.

“I knew going out there I would be a little erratic,” the Irishman said. “It’s still a very early season for me. I’m still making mental errors here and there, so I put up with that.

“I’m hitting good putts and creating those [birdie] chances. I know some days they will go in and some days they won’t. No problem with me.”

As for Garcia, he’s trying to restart his game after a semi-disappointing 2006 that featured zero victories, not counting the Ryder Cup, where he was 4-1 in Europe’s rout of the U.S. He had six top 10s on the PGA Tour, tied for third at the PGA Championship and tied for fifth at the British Open, but he’s still searching for his first major title.

Coming through at Riviera would put him on the right track, Garcia said.

“It would feel good to get momentum on your side, to feel like you’re striking the ball well,” he said. “It’s good to get confidence, if I can keep doing that.”

If the clothes make the man, the majors make the player, and Garcia is figuring he will fit one into his resume, and soon.

“I hope so anyway,” he said.

Any little bit helps, which is why Garcia is wearing a necklace of fabric and magnets, by Sonartec. Charles Howell wears a bracelet of the same design on his right wrist. He said he isn’t convinced it works, but what the heck?

“The power of suggestion,” he said.

Howell lists his loss to Mike Weir in a playoff at Riviera in 2003 as his deepest disappointment, but second place is a position he has had some experience with. Howell has 10 seconds, two this year -- at Honolulu, where Paul Goydos came from behind to win by one shot, and at Torrey Pines, where Tiger Woods won by two shots.

At 28, Howell has only one victory, five years ago at Kingsmill in Virginia, a tournament that no longer exists.

“Of course I would have loved to have won more,” he said. “But, you know, the best thing I can do is keep giving myself chances. Eventually, hopefully, one will come through.

“I think I’m getting closer.”

The fact that he’s reunited with his coach, David Leadbetter, has improved Howell’s game, which is known as being more about mechanics than feel. He said he had gone overboard emphasizing the technical advantages, but he said he isn’t going to apologize even though he has taken some heat for his approach.

“I understand the criticism of it, but at the same time, if you hit a bad shot, there is a reason you hit it,” Howell said. “And I just want to know why.”

Harrington may want to find out why the back nine are so up and down for him. In two days, he has made only four pars, along with four bogeys and 10 birdies.

But Mickelson said Riviera sets up perfectly for Harrington, who drives the ball straight and is one of the better iron players on the tour.

It has been a fun ride for Mickelson so far, on and off the course, going back to last week when he won at Pebble Beach. He started his Friday morning at the Callaway test center, about a mile from the airport in Carlsbad, and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

There won’t be much of that this weekend at Riviera, and Mickelson knows it, even in his position at the front of the pack with Harrington.

“It’s a good start,” he said, “but it’s two rounds.”

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com