Three's a crowd

By Thomas Bonk

June 6, 2008 12 AM PT

So you’re one of the roughly 42,000 fortunate fans with a ticket to the first two days of next week’s U.S. Open, and you just found out that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are playing together in the same group. Does that mean you’re going to follow them?

Uh, is a Torrey Pine a pine tree?

It’s going to be a forest of people out there. Woods is like flypaper to fans in a normal event, but now that the USGA has decided to put him and Mickelson and third-ranked Adam Scott in the same group, well, let’s just say the chances of overcrowding are a lot higher than they used to be.

“We’ve kicked that round,” said Mike Davis, the USGA’s senior director of rules and competitions. “Will they get 35% of the crowd, 50%? We just don’t know, but obviously, it’s going to be a lot.”

It was as simple as 1-2-3, the notion that the USGA would put the top three-ranked players together for the first two rounds of the U.S. Open, a bonanza of star power that’s destined to become either an instant hit or a disaster in the making.

The U.S. Open pairings are usually as constant as the U.S. Open rough, but an opportunity to pair Woods and Mickelson at Torrey Pines, where they both have had success since they were teens, made sense to the USGA.

Davis said he was convinced Wednesday after running into Woods at Torrey Pines. He watched him practice, asked Woods about it, and came away convinced Woods was not only ready to play, he was ready to play nice with Phil. Or as nice as they can manage anyway.

For the USGA, it was a no-brainer, Davis said.

“It’s a new opportunity, a rare one, we’ve got No. 1 and No. 2, they’ve got so much history at Torrey Pines, it just seemed like the right time to do it.”

Maybe, but chances are that Lee Janzen, Steve Flesch and Rich Beem aren’t going to be quite so jolly. They’re the group behind Woods, virtually guaranteeing them less than a serene day at the golf course.

The group ahead of Woods-Mickelson-Scott might have it even worse, but only if thousands of people moving around while you’re trying to play a shot is something that bothers you. The group ahead of the Big Three consists of Mark Calcavecchia, Oliver Wilson and Joe Ogilvie.

Davis thinks fans will leapfrog holes, like skipping one to go to the next and set up shop there to wait for the Big Three. It’s also his opinion that Woods draws huge crowds regardless of the tournament or the venue, so any group behind or ahead of him knows the situation beforehand.

“They have to deal with that,” Davis said.

The third member of the group stands out on his own. Scott, ranked No. 3, has his own legion of fans, not only because of his play, but also because of his background as a model.

The USGA’s plan is to take the top 12 players and spread them out over four time slots -- first tee or 10th tee in the morning, and first tee or 10th tee in the afternoon.

Woods-Mickelson-Scott have the early-late draw. Their first-round tee time is 8:06 a.m. Thursday at the first tee, and they start Friday’s second round at 1:36 p.m. at the 10th tee.

Justin Rose, Geoff Ogilvy and Ernie Els (ranked 4-5-6) have a 1:36 p.m. time to start at the 10th and an 8:06 a.m. second-round time at the first tee.

K.J. Choi, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker (ranked 7-8-9) start at 7:22 a.m. Thursday at the 10th and at 12:52 p.m. Friday at the first tee. Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia and Stewart Cink -- 10-11-12 -- begin at 12:52 p.m. Thursday at the first tee and start the second round at 7:22 a.m. at the 10th.

But all the eyes, at least a bunch of them, will be on Tiger-Phil, and not even NBC thinks that’s a bad idea.

“It’s great for TV and for the viewers,” NBC spokesman Brian Walker said. “We’d be showing as much of their round as possible, so in some ways, it makes it easier to cover.”

The traditional pairing of the U.S. Open champion, British Open champion and U.S. Amateur champion is not affected by this new pairing arrangement. Angel Cabrera, the defending champion, is ranked 22nd, so his pairing with British Open winner Padraig Harrington (ranked 14th) will go on, joined by Davis Love III. Colt Knost, the amateur champion, turned pro and isn’t playing.

The last time Woods and Mickelson were in the same group at a major was the first two rounds of the 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah. Woods wound up with a five-shot victory over Shaun Micheel. Mickelson tied for 16th.

In the meantime, the USGA is trying to anticipate the traffic-parking-bus problems associated with a huge crowd following Woods-Mickelson. If they finish their second-round about 6:30 p.m. Friday night, that’s a wonderful addition to the San Diego rush-hour drive.

“We’re not sure it’s going to be so bad,” said Reg Jones, the managing director of the U.S. Open. “Obviously, Tiger and Phil have large followings, but maybe what happens won’t affect the traffic pattern that bad.”

On the course? Look out for golf gridlock. It’s going to be a test, but isn’t that what the U.S. Open is supposed to be anyway?

thomas.bonk@latimes.com

THE U.S. OPEN

Torrey Pines, South Course, June 12-15