SPRINGFIELD, N.J. – Maybe it’s not too late for Phil Mickelson to salvage some magic in the majors.

An afterthought ever since the majors began in April, Mickelson came back to life yesterday on steamy Baltusrol with a 3-under 67 to join a crowd atop the leaderboard that included just about everyone but Tiger Woods.

Woods, trying to capture his third Grand Slam event of the year, staggered to a 75 for his worst start in a major and will have to rally simply to make it to the weekend.

“If you’re looking for me to shed a tear, it’s not going to happen,” Mickelson said. “We all know Sunday his name will be up there.”

Perhaps so, but Mickelson is intent on keeping his own name on top.

Lefty got through the opening seven holes – among the most punishing stretch in golf – at 1 over par. Then, he turned matters over to his putter. He knocked in a pair of 35-foot birdie putts around the turn, made another long birdie on the 14th and became part of a six-way tie for the lead with a two-putt birdie on the 18th.

It was the largest logjam in the first round of a major since a six-way tie at the 1989 British Open.

Former British Open champion Ben Curtis got good breaks in the rough and pieced together a bogey-free round. It was his first time atop the leaderboard at a major since his shocking victory at Royal St. George’s two years ago.

Stuart Appleby, Trevor Immelman, Rory Sabbatini, and Stephen Ames also shot 67, with Ames having a chance for the outright lead until his 20-foot eagle putt slid by the cup.

Retief Goosen birdied his last two holes for a 68, while Vijay Singh did the same to salvage a 70.

On a steamy day in the 90s that required maintenance crews to douse the greens with water, 27 players managed to break par on the 7,392-yard Lower Course at Baltusrol.

Woods was not among them. He three putted his first hole for bogey, then dropped shots on three of the easiest holes on the course. His 75 was not his worst score in a major in the opening round, but his position – a tie for 113th – was his worst since a tie for 104th in last year’s PGA Championship.

He dropped his putter in disgust and flung an iron after his approach spun off the green, yet Woods said his patience kept it from being worse.

“I’m still in it,” he said. “There won’t be too many guys under par by the end of the week. Hopefully, I can get myself there over the next three days.”

Mickelson, meanwhile, hasn’t been this excited since he showed up at Augusta National having won his third PGA Tour title of the young season. But he finished 10th in the Masters, where the only noise he made was an argument with Singh over spike marks. He took himself out of contention at the U.S. Open with a 77 in the second round and tied for 33rd. He broke par only once at St. Andrews and tied for 61st at the British Open.

“I feel a lot more confident in my game than I did heading into the other majors,” Mickelson said. “And as I said earlier in the week, I really want to put everything I have into finishing off the year right.”

Woods found no such enthusiasm. Trying to become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1975 to start and finish the year by winning majors, he displayed early signs of a struggle. He had a stern look on his face, a three-putt bogey on his opening hole, and tee shots that rarely found the short grass.

“When I did hit it well off the tee, I didn’t hit my irons close,” he said. “And then when I did hit it close, I didn’t make a putt. Every hole, you could say there’s something that I did wrong. And that was frustrating.”

Nothing bugged him like the 554-yard 18th, the easiest scoring hole on the Lower Course. A tee shot in the fairway would have left him a long iron to the green, but this drive sailed so far to the left that it clipped a tree and landed just inside a hazard line.

His ball was plugged so badly that Woods and caddie Steve Williams assumed someone had stepped on it during a brief search.

“If the ball hits a tree and ricochets down, and the ground is pretty hard there, it should not have embedded that far,” Woods said. “It was totally unplayable.”

Woods wound up taking a drop where it entered the hazard, played back to the fairway, and took bogey.

“There’s probably plenty of guys happy to see him down the leader board for a change,” Appleby said. “I don’t think you’re going to get some, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. What a pity.’ You guys can write about someone else for a change.”