Pavin goes cross-country

PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) -- Phil Mickelson had a pager. Corey Pavin has an airplane.

Pavin, the 1995 U.S. Open champion, was so determined to be at his son's high school graduation Thursday night that he rushed off the Pinehurst No. 2 course after his first round at the U.S. Open and hopped on a private plane for California so he could be there.

Then Pavin was scheduled to take a late flight back across the country to make his second-round tee time Friday afternoon.

"It was either this or not play in the U.S. Open," Pavin said Thursday afternoon as he hurried to a waiting car, just minutes after his round, "and I was hoping to do this."

When the U.S. Open was last at Pinehurst, in 1999, it was Mickelson who put family ahead of golf -- carrying a pager with him in case his wife, Amy, eight-plus months pregnant at the time, went into labor.

The baby waited. Still, it was the story of the Open, and shortly after Payne Stewart rolled in a 15-foot putt to defeat Mickelson , Stewart grabbed his opponent and told him what a thrill it would be to become a father.

Pavin has known that joy for a long time. He has two sons, and the eldest, Ryan, was set to graduate Thursday evening.

The timing worked out well for Pavin, who got the third tee time of the day -- at 7:22 a.m. local time -- and doesn't tee off until after noon on Friday.

"You'd have to ask the USGA about that," he said when asked if he received special consideration. "Let's just say I was hoping for an early tee time and I got one."

Marty Parkes of the U.S. Golf Association said he was told by Tom Meeks , senior director of rules and competition, that Pavin's convenient starting times were purely coincidental.