WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - The premier grouping of the Greenbrier Classic's first two days put together three stars at different places in their careers and lives, but all with big personalities on display for the gallery and TV cameras.
And while the marquee threesome won't be playing together on Saturday, they will all be playing, which for Phil Mickelson, the Hall of Fame elder statesman of the group, is a welcome first.
Flanked by Bubba Watson and defending Classic champion Danny Lee, Mickelson finally sneaked into the weekend for the first time in four tries, shooting a 2-over-par 72 on Friday to follow a 3-under 67 on Thursday. The resulting 1-under score put him right on the cut line.
Watson (4 under) and Lee (8 under) are closer to contention, but for Mickelson, now The Greenbrier's PGA Tour Ambassador, just making it to Saturday was big.
"Looks like it's the first time I'm going to make the cut here, so baby steps," Mickelson said after his round. "It's a big thing for me. I mean, I have made every cut this year so far so I had a good feeling going in that I was going to do it. I cut it a little close with those late bogeys."
The three represented quite a dichotomy in age - Mickelson is 47 years old, Watson 38 and Lee 27 - and career success. Mickelson has 42 PGA Tour victories, including three Masters titles, one British Open and one PGA Championship; Watson has won nine times on the tour with two Masters titles to his credit; and Lee still claims the 2015 Classic as his lone win, though he has been close several other times.
Watson, who had a key stretch of birdies on holes 5-7 (his 14th, 15th and 16th holes) Friday, spoke a bit on the dynamic among the three.
"Phil is an absolute legend," Watson said. "To do what he's done in his career, to be able to play alongside him, watch him, learn from him, talk to him about life, how he's handled being a great player and also being a great dad ... and then Danny, we're still trying to decide when Danny is getting married. He's been talking about it for a while. It's coming up, I think. So just talking to him and him being a past champion here, just a great player.
"So it's fun. It's fun seeing a young guy that's a superstar and then we'll say an old guy - I'm right in the middle - of being a superstar. You learn, you watch and you get to shoot the breeze, because we're going about on the same stuff in life."
That includes fighting for position this weekend, with Lee being in by far the best shape of the three in terms of making a push to win it.
It would represent back-to-back victories for Lee, who has carved out a comfort level on the Old White TPC.
"It's not like the whole golf course has changed," Lee said. "Just the greens are changed and around the greens are changed, but the course itself looks exactly the same, which is good for me. There is a lot of 3-wood tee shots that work great for me out there. If I do what I did [Thursday] and today, I think I'll be in a good spot."
For Mickelson, the trouble certainly wasn't in the way he hit the ball, but more in how he finished on the greens. His day on Friday was a bit of an adventure, including a three-putt from 14 feet, 6 inches for bogey on the seventh hole (his 16th) and hitting his second shot into the water on the par-5 12th, resulting in another bogey.
He needed 31 putts to make it around on Friday after needing just 26 on Thursday.
"I hit it really well, but this has been probably the two worst putting days I've had this year and it's led to some poor scoring relative to how I've been playing," Mickelson said. "But there's no excuse, the greens are perfect. I just haven't been able to putt well.
"I'll come out [Saturday] early - and I hit the ball really well today - and see if I can get this putter fixed. Putting has been really a strength for me the last couple of years but today and [Thursday], we've really struggled."
Watson was in the same boat as Mickelson for much of the day, fighting for his weekend life until that late flurry of birdies sent him comfortably inside the cut line.
While Mickelson lamented his flat stick, Watson was crediting his work on the greens for sparking his 67 on Friday.
"I've been stroking the ball really nicely the last few weeks and just not making the momentum putts," Watson said. "This week so far, I've made the momentum putts, held it together.
"Today for a while, I was one swing away from missing the cut. I made those par putts, birdie putts, then got well inside the cut and moved up. It was one swing away from missing the cut and one swing away from feeling like I have a chance to win. That's what it did. Those three birdies in a row changes the momentum quite a lot."
While Mickelson was bogeying the 12th, the group's third hole of the day, Lee was making an even bigger mess by driving the ball into a fairway bunker, hitting his third and fourth shots into the rough and eventually settling for double bogey.
But that would be it for the setbacks, as Lee picked up birdies on 14, 18, 4 and 5 to follow up an opening-round 64 with a 68 to sit four shots off the lead in a tie for fourth place.
"You're supposed to make birdie or par [on No. 12]," Lee said. "I just made a mess on hole 12. But it was kind of a windy day and I knew there is still a lot of birdie opportunities out there. I know I'm hitting it well enough to make some birdies out there. I kept my patience level cool."
Contact Ryan Pritt at 304-348-7948 or ryan.pritt@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @rpritt.