As people peek through a hedge from a home adjoining the tee box, Phil Mickelson drives on the seventh hole in the second round of the Northern Trust Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles Friday, Feb. 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

LOS ANGELES — The luck of the draw is playing a key role in determining who is going to win this week's Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club.

Players who were fortunate enough to draw an early tee time on Thursday and an afternoon tee time on Friday enjoyed mostly calm conditions. The players on the opposite schedule were not nearly as fortunate. Heavy winds pounded the course Thursday afternoon through mid-morning of Friday.

On Thursday, the scoring average for the players who went off in the morning was 71.28, while it jumped to 73.78 for the afternoon groupings.

As a result, the vast majority of players who are in contention heading into today's third round had the luxury of that early/late combination.

One of those is Phil Mickelson, who took advantage of Friday afternoon's calm conditions to fire a 7-under 64, his lowest career round at Riviera.

Mickelson takes a four-stroke lead into today's third round, sitting at 10-under 132. Robert Allenby and Jeff Quinney are tied for second at 6-under 136, with a large group of players headed by Chad Campbell and Scott Verplank sitting five strokes behind Mickelson. Former Westlake High standout Charlie Wi is tied for ninth at 4 under. Oxnard native Corey Pavin, who was in the late/early pairings, finished at 7 over and missed the cut.

"The early/late tee times had a huge advantage this week," Mickelson said. "A lot of the times, it doesn't make too much of a difference, but every now and then there will be an advantage on one wave and we certainly had that.

"I mean all the scores that were any good, 90 percent of them, are from the early/late wave. We just got very lucky."

While he was lucky to get the right tee times, it was Mickelson's skill that allowed him to go so low. He gave an indication of how well things might go right out of the gate, as he knocked his second shot on the par-5 first hole to 12 feet. He didn't make the eagle putt, but he did get a tap-in birdie and he was off and running.

He birdied the very difficult par-3 fourth hole and then knocked a 60-foot putt in on the par-4 fifth hole for another birdie.

"I'm hitting a lot of good putts," Mickelson said. "I'm reading them well and my speed is much better, so I'm hitting a lot of good putts.

"I felt like my game has been really close, but I haven't quite put it together yet. Today it started to come together."

After struggling at Riviera through much of his career, over the last few years he has found a way to turn his fortunes around. Mickelson has no surefire answer for why he's played the famed course so much better over the last few seasons, but he does feel his decision to commute by plane between his home in San Diego and Riviera every day has helped.

"I get to be at home for dinner, see the kids and sleep in my own bed," Mickelson said. "I think that's been a big plus because it doesn't feel like it's an away week."

With the No. 2 player in the world holding a four-stroke lead with 36 holes left to play, it's natural to expect the rest of the field might feel like it is playing for second place.

Allenby and Quinney said that's not the case. Allenby, who won the tournament in 2001 by prevailing in a six-man playoff, said he's not ready to throw in the towel.

"Yeah (Mickelson) is one of the best players in the world and he's won a few majors," Allenby said. "But you know, I could shoot 6 or 7 under any given day around this golf course because that's the way it sets up for me.

"It's just a matter of getting out of my own way and letting myself do it. He's human and he can make mistakes and that could happen over the weekend."

Quinney, who will join Allenby and Mickelson in today's final pairing, also said he has a great level of comfort at Riviera.

While there might be a temptation to try and press to cut down his deficit, Quinney said Rivera eliminate those thoughts.

"This course is not that type of golf course," Quinney said. "You don't have to shoot 8 under on Saturday. Last year I think I shot 4 under and moved up the leaderboard. If you get firm greens and the wind blows a bit, a couple of under can move you a long way."