He shot a 66 in the United States Open on Friday. It was the easiest 66 you will ever see at the world's most punishing golf tournament. "He's done nothing special and he's 6 under par," said Mickelson's playing partner, Kirk Triplett. "Just very, very solid."

It helped that the galleries made Phil feel like he was playing a member-guest in Brooklyn.

"We love ya, Phil."

"Phil-lay!" they yelled, making him sound like a mignon or a cheesesteak. Mickelson responded in kind. He waved. He smiled in that aw-shucks way.

Phil Mickelson tees off on the 17th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open Friday. (U.S. Open photo gallery)

Understand: Interacting with fans during a round at any golf tournament, forget the meat-grinder U.S. Open, is next to unheard of. Mickelson played it like a high school reunion. Walking from the 10th green to the 11th tee, Mickelson stopped to hand his ball to a small boy. "Tiger doesn't do that, Phil," someone noted.

Fans admired Woods the way they'd admire a king. From a distance. Phil welcomes them in. "I hit a good shot, they clap," Triplett said. "Phil walks on the green, they clap. Is there a branch campus of (Mickelson's alma mater) Arizona State here?"

Phil has slimmed considerably from a few years back. But he still hauls some belly weight. This is always good with the Everyman crowd. Phil sports a Ford logo on his clothes and caps. What's more regular than Ford?

And his name. Phil. He's not a Sergio or a Vijay or a Tiger. He's just ... Phil. Among the PGA Tour's big names, only Ernie Els could match Phil for a regular name. But Els is South African and doesn't endorse Ford.

Mickelson continues to play the smart, throttled-back golf that won him the Masters. He hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation Friday. Most of his par putts were 3 feet or less. At the par-5 16th, he had a 2-footer for birdie. Phil-lay!

The old Phil would have been showing off, hitting drivers and flop wedges and putting himself in bad spots. The new Phil takes what the defense gives him. Which is the only smart way to play the Open.

"I'm playing the same style of golf I played at the Masters," he said. Mickelson spent weeks practicing the shots he knew he'd need at Shinnecock Hills. He has been careful to put his ball in the right spots on the fairways, and to keep it below the greens.

By the time Mickelson reached the 18th green, he had the lead to himself. Thousands of people sat on the hillsides and in the grandstand, forming a semicircle around the green. An am-Phil-theatre. The love rained down.

Keep it going, Phil. We love ya, baby. And of course the ubiquitous You-da-man, golf's version of The Wave. It was a PhilFest.

"I love playing in New York," Mickelson said, though he remained mystified about the adulation. "I don't know what to say. I didn't know what to say the first 16 times it happened."

When he was done, Mickelson was asked to do an interview in the media tent, a few hundred yards from the 18th green. Mickelson said he'd do it if he could walk through the crowd, signing autographs as he went. This isn't normal big-time jock behavior.

"You can't expect me to walk past the people," Mickelson explained to a United States Golf Association official. "I can't do that."

Who loves ya, Phil-lay? Everyone in Noo Yawk, baby. Everyone in Noo Yawk.

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E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com