Tiger Woods is bracing himself for opposition from an unusual quarter at this week’s US Open — the American public.

The New York public, to be exact, who make their preference for Phil Mickelson all too obvious.

Mickelson may be Californian but they welcome him as one of their own on the East coast and there is plenty of support for him and his wife Amy who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.

Anybody in any doubt need only to have looked up at the two white bed-sheets stitched together and strewn across the front of a house on the road into the course. In truth, the spectacle was hard to miss. In giant letters, it said: “God bless you, Amy. Good luck, Phil. 2009 US Open.” That said it all.

Although it probably didn't. Come Thursday and tee-off time in the game's toughest major, the locals will doubtless have much, much more to say. And not all of the yells may be messages of affection towards their man Mickelson, who bravely plays while his wife awaits surgery for recently diagnosed illness.

Colin Montgomerie, for one, is concerned that all the emotion will spill into something ugly. Namely Tiger-baiting.

“The only thing against him this week may be the crowd,” he said.

“The New York crowd is different to any other because they will jeer their own. They don't come out to watch the golf, they come out to be part of it. They want to get involved, to shout, to be there in the mix. The respect for Tiger is huge, but there will be so much love for Phil Mickelson it could end up as an anti-Tiger feeling.”

\[Peter Hutcheon\]Nobody knows better than the Scot how vicious the NY crew can be Ä it was here, after all, where an American magazine felt obliged to hand out 30,000 “Be Nice To Monty” badges Ä although maybe Sergio Garcia could claim to. He bore the brunt of the abuse in 2002 as the mob homed in on his then propensity to waggle the club, over and over, before striking it. On the 16th hole of his second round, Garcia snapped, turning around to give the finger to a group who were counting down his twitches.

Bad move, as his playing partner Rocco Mediate quickly pointed out. “What d'you mean?” asked the young Spaniard. “You'll find out, probably for the rest of your career coming to New York,” replied Mediate. By the next day the taunts were relentless. “While we're young, Sergio,” shouted one heckler as Garcia jiggled his driver. That happened to be one of the witticisms that was printable. Garcia had committed the cardinal sin. He had reacted. As Mickelson points out, that is a big no-no here. “I think it's important, whether it's positive feedback or negative feedback, you have to let it go in one ear and out the other,” he says. “You have to enjoy the moment and enjoy the atmosphere of it.”

Yet there is obviously more to the synergy between Mickelson and the New York fans than his ability to brush off their banter. There is something deep to be explained, something that transcends the usual golfer-gallery relationship. Not since Arnold Palmer had his army has golf seen or heard anything like it. As Chris Berman put it yesterday: “I went to a baseball game and a golf tournament broke out.”

Of course, the controversial American commentator was referring to that 2002 US Open here at Bethpage, when the whole Mickelson-New York love affair famously began.

Mickelson was playing his 40th major, was still waiting to win one, and when Tiger strode out it was an all too familiar, bloodless scenario. But the New Yorkers had come to witness a fight and when Mickelson suddenly gave them one, battling back to within a shot, their gratitude grew in its volume. “Tiger was getting tougher to catch but the fans weren't giving up and neither was Phil,” so his caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay told Golf Digest. “All you could hear was, 'Let's Go Mick-el-son.'“

Jeff Maggert, his playing partner, was a dumbstruck bystander, saying: “Man, I've never seen a crowd behind a player more than that in a round of golf. It was amazing.”

As is his way, Woods eventually prevailed by three shots, but if anything Mickelson's majorless plight seemed only to cement the bond. New York is not in the habit of applauding losers but here was an exception. They shared with him in his agonies at Shinnecock Hills in 2004, at Winged Foot in 2006 and inbetween had swigged for joy at his USPGA victory at Baltusrol. Lefty had consummated their marriage.

Which brings us to Bethpage '09 and the tournament that will unarguably be the most emotional of Mickelson's career so far. Tiger might be the overwhelming favourite with the bookies, but when it comes to popularity there is only one winner. Cheers, jeers and probably tears. So much for the city that never weeps.

golfHarrington keeps the faith, see page 60