Farmingdale, N.Y. ? Phil Mickelson is a wizard with a golf club in his hands. Even so, what goes on between his ears is almost more intriguing.

There’s Aggressive Phil, who believes he’ll finally win that first major by just being himself.

Phil Mickleson

There’s Patient Phil, who believes he’ll finally win that first major by cutting down on all those wacky shots.

There’s Brave Phil, who believes he’ll finally win that first major by staring down Tiger Woods.

And, finally, there’s Realistic Phil, who knows it will be hard to win that first major if he has to overcome the world’s best player.

So, which Phil is going to show up today, when Mickelson goes to the final round of the U.S. Open trailing Woods by five strokes?

Sounds like a little bit of each.

Mickelson, who shot a 3-under-par 67 Saturday to get himself in contention, plans to attack the course over the final 18 holes, hoping to put some pressure on the leader. Then again, he knows he can’t go overboard on a challenging Open setup such as Bethpage Black.

Mickelson is realistic about his chances of catching Woods. Then again, he’s quick to point out that he already erased half of the 10-shot deficit he faced early in Saturday’s round with bogeys on two of the first three holes.

“Spotting the best player in the world two shots a side (and another one, as well) is not the best position to be in,” Mickelson said. “But at least I’m in better position than I was earlier today.”

Lefty straightened out his tee shots, got his putter going and put together a brilliant stretch of six birdies in 11 holes to position himself for a tee time with Woods.

Alas, Mickelson bogeyed the 18th hole and dropped back into a tie for third at even-par 210, leaving Sergio Garcia (209) and Woods (205) to play in the final group.

In the past, Mickelson has relished the idea of playing head-to-head with Woods, going so far as to say that he’s the only guy willing to take the Tiger by his tail.

“He’s the best player in the game, and I’m not going to back down from him,” Mickelson said at the Players Championship in March.

Naturally, Mickelson put a somewhat different spin on things Saturday even though he stared intently at the scoreboard as he stood on the 18th green, as if just aching for the chance to play with Woods.

“Actually, I was looking at how many guys were in the red (below par) and how much ground I had made up,” Mickelson said. “I was not thinking about the final group.”

He believes it may be to his advantage to tee off ahead of Woods.

“I need to make a few birdies,” Mickelson said. “If I can do that, maybe I can put a little pressure on Tiger and Sergio playing behind me.”

Of course, Mickelson needs to make a lot more birdies than Woods, who is 7-for-7 when going to the final round of a major with at least a share of the lead.

“Tiger rarely comes back to the field,” Mickelson conceded. “And there’s a lot of pressure when you’re trying to make birdies out there. On this kind of setup, it leads to you going the other way.”

That’s happened before. Mickelson is 0-for-39 in the four biggest tournaments, despite finishing fourth or better seven times. All those close calls have earned him the dreaded moniker: Best Player Never To Win A Major.