Phil Mickelson is accustomed to bold plays. Lefty is also a devoted family man. Given these facts, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the golfer elected to do the following: Leave Merion, the site of the U.S. Open, on Monday to fly home to San Diego to practice in better weather and attend his daughter’s eighth-grade graduation. Mickelson then returned to the course early Thursday morning ahead of his 7:11 a.m. ET tee time.

The unorthodox preparation for the second major of the year paid off through the first round. Mickelson, who hasn’t finished an opening round of the U.S. Open under par since 2009, fired an impressive 3-under 67 Thursday. Phil was the tournament leader when he signed his scorecard for the three-under opening round.

Here’s Phil’s full jet-setting itinerary:

• Left Merion Monday afternoon by private jet for San Diego
• Departed San Diego at 11:15 p.m. ET (8:15 p.m. PT) Wednesday
• Touched down in Philadelphia  at 4:30 a.m. ET
• Arrived at Merion at 5:37 a.m. ET
• Teed off at 7:11 a.m. ET at No. 11

Mickelson opened his round with a bogey at the 370-yard par-4 No. 11. He followed the blemish with pars at No. 12 and got a stroke back with a birdie at the 103-yard par-3 No. 13. The left-hander then added two pars before the suspension of play at 8:36 a.m. ET.

As Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press tweeted regarding the situation:

Phil being Phil. Flies home to San Diego pre-Open. Returns 3 hours before tee time. Has 5 wedges and no driver in bag. Even thru 5. #usopen

— Doug Ferguson (@dougferguson405) June 13, 2013

Of course, Phil isn’t flying coach and reportedly has a bed on his private plane. Given the suspension of play, he looks like a genius and likely snuck in a couple of hours of sleep. It seems like Mickelson accurately predicted the weather and what it would mean for him. He can add amateur meteorologist to the list of hats he’s worn this season, along with amateur financial planner and club designer.

After the restart at 12:10 p.m. ET (and more importantly, some sleep), Mickelson parred Nos. 16 and 17, after a quality tee shot on the 246-yard par-3 No. 17. Following a well-struck approach shot at the lengthy par-4 No. 18, Mickelson took two putts for another par and an even-par opening-eight (strange, I know).

A birdie on No. 1 (his ninth of the day) moved Mickelson to one under for the tournament. Fantastic par saves at the Nos. 2 and 3 (his eighth and ninth) — one from a bunker, one from the deep rough — followed.

Phil averted disaster on the difficult No. 5 when his drive stayed out of a creek after going wayward left, eventually saving par on a hole where he was staring bogey or worse in the face. On the No. 6 (his 14th) Mickelson got up and down from a difficult position in the bunker to remain at one-under par for the tournament.

Another birdie at the par-4 No. 7 moved Mickelson into the lead, and when Phil poured in a lengthy birdie putt at the par-3 No. 9, he moved to three under for the day, before parring No. 10 (his 18th of the day) for an opening-round 67.

Given the success of his method, Phil may want to consider flying home for dinner tonight.