Garcia needed mulligan

LA JOLLA, Calif. – Imagine where Sergio Garcia would be if he hadn’t made such a mess of his first seven holes at the U.S. Open.

The tournament had barely started Thursday and Garcia already was in danger of missing the cut. Two double bogeys put him 6 over before he’d even made his first turn.

Sergio has been surging ever since, going 3 under on his last 47 holes, including consecutive rounds of 1-under 70 on Friday and Saturday at Torrey Pines’ South Course.

Garcia was tied with Mike Weir, Ernie Els and John Merrick at 3-over 216 going into today’s final round. That was six shots behind Tiger Woods, who had a 70 on a sore left knee Saturday to take the lead at 3-under 210. A lot of ground to make up, for sure, especially considering Woods has never lost a major from the lead.

Recovering from his early mistakes has been nice. Garcia wishes they’d never happened.

“That definitely wasn’t the plan, I can tell you that,” said the Spaniard, who just flat-out missed fairways and greens in his first seven holes. “But, yeah, you know, when you’re comfortable with your game, when you have confidence in your game, you know you can come back.”

Garcia’s only bogeys Saturday were on Nos. 6 and 8, sandwiched around the first of three birdies.

“I would love to be a couple better, just to make sure that I was a little closer,” he said. “But, you know, every time you shoot under par here you shouldn’t be too greedy, I guess. So it’s not too bad, and that’s what I did the last few days. Unfortunately I just had a bad start on Thursday. But I’m slowly coming back.”

Garcia had a nice birdie on the par-5 13th, the hole where Phil Mickelson imploded with a quadruple-bogey 9 and Woods wowed the crowd with an eagle.

Maybe next year

San Diego native Phil Mickelson looked like he’d just seen a ghost when he walked off Torrey Pines’ South Course on Saturday, his 5-over 76 having dropped him to 9-over 222.

Yeah, his quadruple-bogey 9 on the 13th hole was supernatural, all right, something he hadn’t done at city-owned Torrey Pines since he was a kid.

He’d waited six years to play for the national championship on a course he’d grown up playing, and now the chance to win it was gone.

After cooling down for about 15 minutes, that sly Mickelson grin had partially returned.

“I think it’s an exciting Open,” Lefty said. “I’m certainly disappointed that I’m not in the mix right now. That was the goal. So I’m going to come out tomorrow, enjoy my final round. And Bethpage is one of the best places ever – one of the best memories in the game of golf I’ve ever had. I get to go back there next year for the U.S. Open. So I’m excited about the chance to try to break through and win my first U.S. Open there.”

In 2002, Mickelson finished second to Tiger Woods at Bethpage Black, which is owned by the state of New York and became the first truly public course to host an Open. Torrey Pines is the second.

Leinart takes in tourney

Matt Leinart, the Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy while a junior at Southern California in 2004, was among the estimated 50,000 fans at Torrey Pines. Leinart was scheduled to attend a party thrown by Lexus at the Hard Rock Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego last night.

Caddie smackdown

The USGA decided there was no need to beef up security around the Phil Mickelson-Adam Scott pairing, one day after Scott’s caddie went into the gallery to confront a heckler at the U.S. Open.

“That group has had extra security the whole time as it is,” said Dan Hoban, the USGA’s director of security. “We have 50,000 people and we just had two drunks that got out of control. As far as we’re concerned, it’s over.”

It might not be over for caddie Tony Navarro, who could face disciplinary action for leaving the field of play and striking a fan.

On the final hole of play for the threesome of Tiger Woods, Mickelson and Scott on Friday, two fans, a father and a son, were arrested by San Diego police for investigation of public intoxication. Thomas W. Campbell, 62, of Upland, Calif., and Thomas J. Campbell, 37, of Apple Valley, Calif., spent the night in detox, Hoban said.

After hearing a fan verbally abuse him and his golfer, Scott’s caddie went under the ropes that separate the fans from the field of play on the ninth hole and head-butted the younger Campbell, according to witnesses. The two wrestled to the ground and Mickelson’s caddie, Jim Mackay, went through the ropes to assist Navarro and summon police.