Mickelson will play without a driver

SOUTHPORT, England — Royal Birkdale and Torrey Pines would seem to have nothing in common except Phil Mickelson playing major championships on both without a driver in his bag.

Mickelson carried only the 3-wood with him during his practice round Tuesday at the British Open, and he plans to keep it that way.

“We won’t be playing in this wind,” Mickelson said as he finished his round with a light breeze blowing toward the Irish Sea. “And when we get the normal wind, there really isn’t a driver for me until we get to 15. And then that brings the bunkers into play.”

Mickelson, who once had two drivers in his bag at the Masters, didn’t hit a driver in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He wasn’t much of a factor that week and finished five shots out of the playoff that Tiger Woods won over Rocco Mediate.

Mickelson instead has four wedges, including a 64-degree sand wedge that he can use for flop shots off tight lies on a links course. He also has two 3-irons, one of them with the loft tweaked to make a strong, driving club.

The 3-wood is the same club he had when he won the British Open at Muirfield in 2013, his last victory.

Taking it in: Bill Haas has played as much links golf as anyone in this part of England. He even finally got around to playing Royal Birkdale.

Haas is among those players who love seeing other courses when they come to the British Open. When it was played at Royal Liverpool in 2014, Jason Dufner played Royal Birkdale on the weekend. Brad Faxon used to find smaller links courses to play after a practice round at the championship course.

Haas brought over his brother-in-law and two friends. They played Royal Liverpool on Friday, Royal Lytham & St. Annes on Saturday and Hillside on Sunday. And then it was time to get to work, so he made his way to Royal Birkdale.

“I did the same trip for Lytham in 2012,” he said. “I played Liverpool, here and West Lancashire, so I’ve seen the course. I feel like I’m getting the same practice in, just not at the tournament course. But I’ve got Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to see the course and know the course.”

Getting away: Brooks Koepka won the U.S. Open, headed to Las Vegas and hasn’t been seen in the golfing world since then.

That’s just the way he had it planned.

Koepka is playing for the first time since that four-shot victory at Erin Hills. He had a big stretch at the end of the year with two majors, a World Golf Championship, the four FedEx Cup playoff events and the Presidents Cup, so he wanted to be fresh.

“I found it pretty easy to get away,” Koepka said. “I was not looking for a break, but I kind of needed one, more mentally than anything. And it was nice to have a few weeks off. But last week, I started getting into it and getting antsy to get back out here.”