Feels like home to world’s best duo

No one can be sure who’s going to win the 108th U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, but there’s already a leader. That would be Torrey Pines itself, surely destined to look splendid in its prime time close-up.

Torrey Pines is primping for the royal treatment from television to showcase a golf course nestled on a bluff against rugged cliffs, yawning canyons and a grand expanse of water with foamy surf slapping oatmeal brown sand.

Figuring out who is going to look best in the picture taken against this kind of backdrop isn’t hard; it essentially comes down to two players.

You know who they are. They’re the local guys. They are so SoCal.

They know more about Torrey Pines than anybody in a visor, cap or whatever you call that thing Shingo Katayama wears on his head.

If there’s a home-course advantage at Torrey Pines for the Open, it has to belong to Tiger Woods -- and Phil Mickelson.

But which one in particular?

A home advantage is not a new concept. At old Boston Garden, the Celtics figured they had an advantage because they knew how to dribble around all the dead spots in the floor. Nobody felt comfortable hitting the ice to play the Montreal Canadiens at the Forum.

But this is groundbreaking territory in golf, especially for a U.S. Open.

At Torrey Pines, Woods and Mickelson figure to have an edge over the 154 others in the field. They’ve played it so often, it’s their grassy playpen.

You could build a case for either player. Woods has won the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines six times, the last four years in a row, including a record eight-shot victory in January. He even won a Junior World title at Torrey Pines and there’s a picture of him in the pro shop as a lanky teen, holding his trophy and wearing spectacles that appear to be about the same size as a windshield.

Mickelson has three victories at Torrey in the Buick Invitational and he has played the place often enough they should start naming strains of grass there after him. Maybe Phil annua.

What’s more, Mickelson lives right up the 5 Freeway from Torrey at Rancho Santa Fe, and that means he can play it on a regular basis, which he takes advantage of every time he can. Before the Buick this year, Mickelson played Torrey almost every day.

The house on the corner lot where Woods grew up in Cypress is about 90 miles from Torrey Pines, which was part of his regular playing schedule in the junior ranks long before he started taking the place apart as a professional.

Woods has won four times at Torrey since architect Rees Jones revamped the place in 2001 and all three of Mickelson’s victories came before the remodeling that extended the course almost 600 yards.

Does that mean anything? Woods believes it does. Mickelson doesn’t care when he won, just the fact that he has won three times.

But this surely means something: The official distance for the U.S. Open is listed as 7,643 yards -- the longest U.S. Open in history.

Hitting it a long way off the tee is not a problem for either Woods or Mickelson, although the firm fairways and weep-inducing rough that are both U.S. Open-certified are going to challenge their directional abilities.

Both Mickelson and Woods, who will play at least the first two rounds together, have had their share of putting problems, and no problems at all, depending on the week. The Torrey Pines greens are supposed to be so fast, they could be measured in Mach speed for the Open, but Woods and Mickelson aren’t the only ones who have to figure them out.

So far this year, they’ve done all right. They are the only players with multiple victories on the PGA Tour.

As far as their gallery goes, expect it to be fairly even, maybe with a slight edge to Woods because he has been out for two months after knee surgery.

The sympathy vote, that’s all he needs.

Mickelson seems relaxed in his role as the people’s choice, especially at what is basically his home course, doing his Phil thing with the gallery. That includes grinning, bumping knuckles, signing stuff and touching the bill of his cap to acknowledge cheers.

They’re both going to need all the help they can get. Woods has won the U.S. Open only once since 2000 -- by three shots over Mickelson in 2002 at Bethpage Black. Mickelson hasn’t won the U.S. Open, but in the last four years, he has been second twice, the same as Woods.

There’s a decent chance something’s going to change this year and either Woods or Mickelson will be in that picture-postcard setting Sunday night, wrapping his arms around the big, silver trophy, squeezing the air out of it.

Maybe it won’t happen (see Angel Cabrera 2007, Geoff Ogilvy 2006, Michael Campbell 2005, Retief Goosen in 2004), but if there was ever a U.S. Open course set up where Woods and Mickelson, the top two players in the world, are both local guys, this is it.

If somebody has the home-course advantage, we won’t have to go very far to find out.

thomas.bonk@latimes.com

--

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Facts and figures

The course: A public course along the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean, the South Course was designed by William Bell and opened in 1957. The San Diego Open moved to Torrey Pines in 1968 and has hosted the tournament since. Rees Jones redesigned the South Course in 2001 as it tried to lure the U.S. Open. It costs $42 for San Diego residents to play during the week, and $145 for visitors.

Tale of the Tape: Torrey Pines will be the longest course in major championship history. The sixth hole, converted from a par five, will measure 515 yards and be the longest par four in U.S. Open history.

Length: 7,643 yards. Par: 35-36--71. Format: 72 holes of stroke play.

Cut: Top 60 and ties, and anyone within 10 strokes of the lead after 36 holes.

Playoff, if necessary: 18 holes of stroke play on June 16.

Field: 156 players (nine amateurs).

Purse: TBA ($7 million in 2007). Winner’s share: TBA ($1.26 million in 2007).

Defending champion: Angel Cabrera.

Earlier this year: Tiger Woods won the Buick Invitational by eight shots for his fourth straight title and sixth overall at Torrey Pines.

Ten years ago: In the only other USGA event held at Torrey Pines, Masters champion Trevor Immelman won the 1998 U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship, 3 and 2, over Jason Dufner.

A look at how Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have fared at the Buick Invitational played at Torrey Pines since 1998 with total score and relation to par (* -- 54 holes; ** won in playoff):

*--* TIGER WOODS 1998 205* (-11) T3 1999 266 (-22) 1 2000 274 (-14) T2 2001 271 (-17) 4 2002 278 (-10) T5 2003 272 (-16) 1 2004 280 (-8) T10 2005 272 (-16) 1 2006 278** (-10) 1 2007 273 (-15) 1 2008 269 (-19) 1 *--*

*--* PHIL MICKELSON 1998 212* (-4) T49 1999 Missed cut 2000 270 (-18) 1 2001 269** (19) 1 2002 Missed cut 2003 278 (-10) T4 2004 279 (-9) T4 2005 288 (E) T56 2006 280 (-8) T5 2007 287 (-1) T51 2008 282 (-6) T6 *--*