Tiger Woods finished up at the driving range around 11:30 a.m., meaning he was out working for just a little over an hour today, one day before the PGA starts. First it was putting, then some chipping, then hitting balls at the range. Wherever he went, people ran to get into position to watch him (one 20-year-old guy jumped on his friend’s shoulders in order to get a picture). We were up pretty close for the driving range session and even saw him crack a big smile and laugh during a private conversation with Stewart Cink. Nice to see Tiger having some fun out there.

Prior to that, the biggest galleries we saw were for John Daly and Phil Mickelson. Daly teed off shortly after 7 a.m., and we caught him a little after 9 a.m. at the turn. He was wearing a fluorescent lime green shirt, an orange golf glove and pants that were incredulously described by one patron thusly: “Those are round dots!” (Accompanying picture from us should give you some idea). We followed Daly for a few holes, then caught Mickelson on his first two holes. The gallery for that was 8-to-10 people deep in some spots.

From Mickelson, we walked back to the practice area, where Woods was just getting going on the putting green. We also snapped that picture of 2002 champ Rich Beem* on the range. In between it all, we worked on doing some video with the throng of fans with Woods. Check that out later on Startribune.com … if you dare see us sweaty and all worked up at Hazeltine.

*May or may not have been a picture of the young lady to the left, who has been seen frequently with Anthony Kim.

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