By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Sports Writer
SPRINGFIELD, N.J.
Forget the crowd of 17 players either tied for the lead or within one shot after the first round of the PGA Championship. The real surprise was who was missing.
It was way down the scores list before the name of the man who has dominated the majors appeared: Tiger Woods shot a 5-over 75 and was tied for 113th in the field of 156.
Major champions Phil Mickelson and Ben Curtis were in the group of six players tied after shooting 3-under 67s on Thursday.
"If you're looking for me to shed a tear, it's not going to happen," Mickelson said when asked about Woods' round. "But I know, or believe, as I think we all do, that come Sunday his name will find its way up on top there. It'll be tough for us to keep him back. Fortunately a lot of guys got off to a good start."
Steve Elkington, Bernhard Langer, Davis Love III and Retief Goosen _ also major winners _ were in the gaggle who shot 68s at the 7,392-yard Lower Course at the Baltusrol Golf Club.
The others who got off to a good start in the year's final major were Trevor Immelman, Stuart Appleby, Rory Sabbatini and Stephen Ames _ all in the lead group at 67.
Heath Slocum, Greg Owen, Lee Westwood, Jesper Parnevik, Pat Perez, Ben Crane and John Rollins were the others at 2 under.
Defending champion Vijay Singh, like Woods looking for a third PGA title, started with an even-par 70.
The second round got under way Friday morning under partly cloudy skies. The forecast called for humid conditions with temperatures in the low 90s.
Mickelson was 1 over through eight holes when he made consecutive 35-foot birdie putts to break into red numbers. Then he added another bomb from about the same distance to birdie No. 14, and he capped his round with a two-putt birdie, again from about 30 feet.
"A lot of times you've got to wait until you make a 35-footer for birdie," he said. "It's very difficult to get the ball close to some of these pins. If you try to force it, you're going to end up making bogeys."
Mickelson and Woods have been on opposite ends of major success this year.
Woods started this tournament looking to win three majors in one year for the second time in his career; the first time he did it was 2000, matching Ben Hogan's feat from 1953.
This year, Woods won the Masters and British Open and was second in the U.S. Open.
Meanwhile, Mickelson was 10th in the Masters, tied for 33rd in the U.S. Open and tied for 60th in the British Open.
"I have a little bit different feeling heading into this tournament than I've had in some of the others," Mickelson said. "I feel a lot more confident in my game than I did heading into the other majors. I really want to put everything I have into finishing off the year right here at the PGA."
Woods seemed far from rattled after his round where his only birdie came on his 17th hole and he had four bogeys and a double on the par-4 7th.
"You've just got to stay patient. It's a process," Woods said. "The guys are not going to go out and shoots 63s every day. I've got stay patient and build on it each and every day and just kind of make sure I keep chipping away toward under par for the tournament."
Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion, may have been the biggest surprise of the leading group. This is his third PGA and he has never made a cut. He has only made three cuts in 16 starts this year on the PGA Tour.
"Golf is a funny game. It can come and go at any time," said Curtis, who didn't have a bogey in the opening round. "I'm just trying to stay patient, work hard and stay positive and not worry about those problems."
Immelman, whose best finish in two PGAs was a tie for 37th last year, was one of the few players not to complain about Baltusrol's deep, gnarly rough.
"I actually got some good breaks in the rough today," he said. "I probably missed maybe four fairways out there and every time I could somewhere advance it to the green and then I kind of hung in there from there. I hold some nice 5- or 6-footers for par just to keep my round going."
Sabbatini waited until the closing par-5s _ the only two on the course _ to make his move.
He birdied both: the 650-yard 17th from about 10 feet and the 554-yard 18th with a 12-to-15 foot putt.
"This is a course that apparently seems to set up for long hitters but it's a course with a premium on putting the ball in the fairway off the tee," he said. "It doesn't matter how far you hit it, if you can advance your approach shot around the green, you've still got an opportunity to save par. If you drive it in the rough, you're not going to have that."
Woods hit only six of 14 fairways, reached 13 greens in regulation and took 35 putts. Statistics that don't translate into an 11th career major.
"I'm still in the tournament, no doubt about that," he said. "A long way to go and the golf course is only going to get harder. There won't be too many guys under par by the end of the week and hopefully I can get myself there over the next three days."
Forget the crowd of 17 players either tied for the lead or within one shot after the first round of the PGA Championship. The real surprise was who was missing.