Family man Mickelson on daily air commute to Nissan Open

PACIFIC PALISADES, California, Feb 15 (Reuters) World number four Phil Mickelson is taking the aerial route to this week's Nissan Open to spend more time at home with his wife and three children.

Mickelson, who lives in Rancho Santa Fe outside San Diego, has a one-hour commute for the 192-km journey to Riviera Country Club via the nearby Santa Monica airport.

''It's not taking too long, it should be nice,'' the Masters champion told reporters yesterday as he prepared for today's first round.

''Sometimes I will do this, where I will fly up to maybe Cypress to play a round of golf for a day. It's not a very long commute, and it gives me a chance to practise at home on some of my drills at the facilities that I'm used to working on.'' Asked how early he needed to leave home before the start of today's opening round, family man Mickelson replied: ''Just about two hours before I tee off. It's only about an hour's commute door-to-door. It's not bad at all.'' Three-times major winner Ernie Els, also a proud family man, applauded Mickelson's decision to commute by air during the week.

''I think it's pretty nice, it's pretty cool,'' said South African Els, the 1999 champion at Riviera. ''I probably would do the same if I had the chance.'' REUTERS SAM PM1001