May 8, 2012
At 41, Phil Mickelson was one of five inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame on Monday. He’s earned it.
Not only because of his four major championships, 40 PGA Tour wins, or the $66 million career earnings. He’s earned it with the way he plays the game and all of the fascinating moments he has given the fans.
Nobody (not even Tiger) adds more intrigue to a leader board than Mickelson because you never know what he will do. Maybe he will birdie five of the last seven holes to win the tournament. Or maybe he will hit his tee shot on the final hole into a hospitality tent and make a double-bogey that costs him the tournament. Either way, it is worth watching.
They call him Phil the Thrill for a reason. He’s regarded by many as having the best short game on tour, in large part to the flop shot he has mastered. His touch and creativity allow him to often, not only attempt, but pull off shots that other players wouldn’t even think of. Here are a few of my favorite Mickelson moments.
1. Of course, the top of the list is the 2004 Masters. In Phil entered the final round tied for the lead and at the end of the day he had a green jacket and was no longer considered the best player without a major championship on his resume. After a back nine where Mickelson made five birdies and was surrounded by players holing out from all over Augusta, he was the last man standing on a day that Jim Nantz called one of the greatest in Masters history. I agree and I think Phil would too.
2. When I heard the Mickelson had an instructional video for your short game, I knew it would be worth watching. What I didn’t know was that he would teach me how to hit the ball straight up and backwards onto the green. It’s an incredibly difficult shot. Even when you know how to do it, I don’t know if anyone but Phil can. If I want to hit one that goes backwards, I’ve got to find a tree to bounce it off of.
3. In 2006, Mickelson arrived at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot looking to win his third straight major, something only Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods have done. He had the lead after 71 holes but committed a colossal mistake on the final hole and finished one shot behind Geoff Ogilvy. I’m not putting this on my list because I’m glad it happened, but it’s another example of the style of play that makes Phil the Thrill so great to watch. Not many guys would have hit driver on that hole. He did. And he paid a steep price for not hitting a good one. This is where we get Phil’s famous “I’m such and idiot” quote.
4. At just 20 and still in college, he won his first PGA Tour event, the Northern Telecom Open, in Tucson as an amateur. It’s a feat that has only been done six times in history and hasn’t been matched since he pulled it off in 1991.
5. When a hailstorm crashes the party as Phil plays the 18th at the 2000 Williams World Challenge, he doesn’t seek shelter like a normal human being would. Instead of trying to putt on a green covered in hail, he pulls out a wedge and chips it in for birdie.
There are my five favorites. I give honorable mention to his PGA Championship win in 2005 and the run he made playing with two drivers in his bag. What are your favorites that I left out?
April 10, 2012
A lot of things need to go right for you to win a major championship. And, of course, it helps when things go wrong for the other players in the field. Sometimes you just have to survive the pitfalls of a pressure-packed week to give yourself a chance at the end. That is just what Bubba Watson did. In case you missed it, here’s how the field narrowed down to one Masters Champion:
Ian Poulter was one of the final casualties before Bubba Watson claimed the green jacket.
Tuesday: No. 12 in the world rankings, Dustin Johnson withdraws with a back injury. 96 players remain in the field.
Wednesday: Padraig Harrington and Jonathan Byrd tied for first in the rain-shortened Par 3 Contest. No winner of the Par 3 Contest has won the Masters in the same year. 94 players still alive for the green jacket.
Thursday, 10 a.m.: The first group of the day has finished the front nine. Craig Stadler is already +6. Count him out. 93 players still alive.
Thursday, 11 a.m.: Mark O’Meara withdraws with a rib injury. 92 players left.
Thursday, 3:30 p.m.: You can’t win the tournament on Thursday, but you can sure play yourself out of it. Just ask Henrik Stenson. He led the tournament at -5 as he stood on the 18th tee. He walked off the 18th green at -1 after making the highest score ever at the finishing hole. Talk about ruining your week. Other players who shot themselves out of the tournament with a 79 or higher are Sandy Lyle, Randal Lewis, Chez Reavie and Johnson Wagner. 87 players left.
Friday, 3 p.m.: Jason Day withdraws with a foot injury. 86 players left.
Friday, 6 p.m.: Lee Westwood makes a double-bogey at 18 and falls out of the lead. The lead is now -5, leaving the cut line at +5. A few players at +5 get lucky and will be around for the weekend. John Senden, Kyung-Tae Kim, Paul Casey, Mike Weir, Jose Maria Olazabal, Larry Mize, Harrison Frazar, Kyle Stanley, Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Rory Sabbatini, Robert Garrigus, Ryan Palmer, Ryo Ishikawa, K.J. Choi, Bryden MacPherson, Ian Woosnam, Mark Wilson, Darren Clarke, Tim Clark, Lucas Glover, Simon Dyson, Corbin Mills, Alvaro Quiros, Brendan Steele and Ben Crenshaw aren’t so lucky. They’ll be watching for the weekend. 59 players remain.
Saturday: It’s moving day and if you just barely made the cut you need to go low. Tiger Woods makes his second bogey of the day at No. 9 and drops back to +3. He is done. It also doesn’t happen for Thomas Bjorn, Keegan Bradley, Angel Cabrera, Patrick Cantlay, Luke Donald, Rickie Fowler, Steve Stricker, Robert Karlsson, Ross Fisher, Scott Verplank, Eduardo Molinari, Anders Hansen, Martin Laird, Kelly Kraft, Bo Van Pelt, Gonzalo Fernando Castano or Trevor Immelman. 41 players left.
Saturday, front nine: In one of the final parings of the day, Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia combine to shoot 82 on the front nine. Who knows where that came from, but it takes both stars out of contention. 39 players left.
Saturday, 4 p.m.: Gary Woodland withdraws with a wrist injury. 38 players left.
Saturday, 6 p.m.: Fan-favorite Freddie Couples’ bid to climb back up the leaderboard comes to an end with bogeys on 15 and 16. He’s got plenty of company as Stewart Cink, Charl Schwartzel, Martin Kaymer, Bill Haas, David Toms, Zach Johnson, Aaron Baddeley, Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, Kevin Chappell, Y.E. Yang, Adam Scott, Vijay Singh, Scott Stallings, Geoff Ogilvy, Hideki Matsuyama, Webb Simpson, Justin Rose, Charles Howell III, Brandt Snedeker, Sang-Moon Bae, and Jim Furyk are all too far back to make a Sunday run at the Masters. 15 players left.
Sunday, 2nd hole: Louis Oosthuizen makes the fourth double-eagle in Masters history to take the lead at -10. Francesco Molinari, Nick Watney, Jason Duffner, Fredrik Jacobson, Ben Crane, Sean O’Hair and Paul Lawrie are too far off the lead. 8 players left.
Sunday, 4th hole: Phil Mickelson makes triple-bogey. No Masters champion has ever had a triple-bogey. Phil has two this week. 7 players left.
Sunday, 12th hole: Peter Hanson shanks his tee shot on the par 3. It stays short of the water but a shank doesn’t leave your mind for a while. 6 players left.
Sunday, 13th hole: Hunter Mahan fails to make a birdie and falls fives shots behind leader Louis Oosthuizen. 5 players left.
Sunday, 17th hole: Ian Poulter needs a birdie-birdie finish to post a number for the leaders to think about. His birdie putt just misses and he is four shots behind with just one hole left. 4 players left.
Sunday, 16th hole: Bubba Watson makes a birdie to tie for the lead at -10. Lee Westwood is in the clubhouse at -8 and cannot expect two players to falter on the last two holes. Westwood is out. 3 players remain.
Sunday, 18th hole: Matt Kuchar misses a birdie putt that would have pulled him to within a shot of the lead. He needs both leaders to make a double-bogey on 18. Not going to happen. Kuchar is eliminated. 2 players left.
Sunday, 20th hole: Louis Oosthuizen is unable to get up-and-down from in front of the 10th green for a par on the second playoff hole. Bubba Watson hits a miracle recovery shot out of the woods and two-putts for a par and the win.
Masters Champion: Bubba Watson
January 24, 2012
We are already three weeks into the 2012 PGA Tour season but I don’t care. I’m not going to let that stop me from making my predictions…even if it is cheating. And I’m going to go out on a limb with my first prediction and say that Steve Stricker will pick up a win early in 2012 and extend his streak to four years with at least one victory. What else will happen in golf?
The outcome of at least one tournament will be impacted by a fan watching at home reporting a rule violation. Tour players are split on whether or not this is OK. Tour officials begin to take a serious look into making changes for the 2013 season.
Tiger Woods will be in contention heading into the final round at the Masters. “Tiger is back” stories will flood the nation. He posts a -2 (70) on Sunday but it’s not good enough to land another green jacket. On the bright side, Tiger will go through the entire season without getting hit with a hot dog. And he will win again. But just once…and it won’t be a major.
Speaking of the majors…if not Tiger, then who? 2012 will be the year of big names winning their first major championships. Sergio Garcia wins the Masters. Luke Donald wins the U.S. Open. Lee Westwood wins the British Open. Dustin Johnson wins the PGA Championship. One of these wins will come in a playoff. One will be a gift when the man leading the tournament makes a big number on the final hole to give it away.
Will Sergio win this year's Masters?
The Ryder Cup will go down to the wire in the Sunday singles. The crucial match for both sides will be the No. 1 player in the world, Luke Donald (playing in the city where he went to college) against USA fan favorite Phil Mickelson. Lefty takes the lead in the match with a birdie on 16 and holds on for a 1 Up win to give the Cup to the United States.
Donald will maintain his hold on the No. 1 ranking in the world but the big news is that Mickelson, Garcia and Woods are all back in the top 10.
Yani Tseng will continue to dominate women’s golf, but her win total drops from 12 in 2011 to 9 in 2012. She plays in a PGA Tour event (the Puerto Rico Open) and makes the cut. But the top story in women’s golf is Lexi Thompson. The teenage phenom is the new star of the LPGA and she wins another tournament before she turns 18.
The media continues to try to create a Tiger vs. Rory Mcllroy rivalry. It never plays out on the golf course, but they are neck in neck in making off the course headlines.
(To read part 3 of this series click here.)
July 12, 2011
It’s British Open week, which means you’ll need a 4 a.m. wake-up call if you don’t want to miss any of the action. In most of the world, this is the biggest tournament of the year. It is probably even truer this year with European players holding the top four spots in the world rankings and all the major championships. This tournament is historically the most wide-open of the majors so you never know who will win, but here are a few things to keep in mind.
He’s back
No, not Tiger. Rory McIlroy will tee it up for the first time since his dominating performance at the U.S. Open last month. His Tiger-esque victory at Congressional has the golf world crowning him as the next Tiger Woods. If not for an awful Sunday at Augusta, he could be halfway to a Rory-Slam.
No Tiger
Speaking of Tiger, we don’t know when Woods will return. We know it won’t be this week. He announced on his website that he will not play, but made no mention of when he expected to return. He hasn’t played in months so even if his body has healed, his game may not be ready by next month’s PGA Championship.
Not playing
Several other names you may recognize will not be in the field this week. Frenchman, Thomas Levet earned himself a spot in the Open Championship by winning the French Open. He was injured when he jumped into a lake to celebrate his win and will not play. Vijay Singh and David Toms have also had to withdraw because of injuries. Colin Montgomery failed to qualify for the first time since 1989.
The course
Royal St Georges is not easy. Open Championship winners have finished under par at Royal St Georges just three times. It will play as a par 70 at over 7200 yards from the back tees, a bit longer than 2003 when Ben Curtis won with a total score of 283. Then again, 10 years earlier, Greg Norman won with four rounds in the 60s. Many players have ranked it at the bottom of the courses in the British Open rotation. As always, the weather will factor mightily into how the course plays.
If not Rory, then who
McIlroy is the favorite, but who else could be holding the Claret Jug on Sunday? Phil Mickelson is always one to watch despite his poor record in the British Open. He has just one career top 10 finish. Luke Donald is the No. 1 ranked player in the world and looking for his first major championship win. Lee Westwood has five top-three finishes in the last seven majors. Is this his time? Jason Day finished second at the Masters and the U.S. Open. He’d like to improve by one spot this week.
My pick
Once in a while someone comes from out of nowhere to win this championship, so what about Sergio Garcia? Here’s a guy who has been out of the spotlight for a while and has been playing well.
June 14, 2011
Come Sunday afternoon, thousands of fathers will sit down with their sons and watch someone capture the US Open on Father’s Day. It could be almost anyone in the 156 man field. The 2011 edition looks to be wide open. Tiger Woods is out with an injury. It will be the first time he hasn’t played since 1994. Vijay Singh’s consecutive major streak will come to an end at 67. It’s nearly impossible to predict who will win, but here are a few guys that will be worth watching.
David Toms
The 44-year-old is having a great season. He won the Colonial Invitational and really should have won the Players Championship, but lost in a playoff to K.J. Choi. He is one of the most accurate players on tour, but the length of Congressional could give him some trouble.
He may have gone from ‘best player to never win a major’ to ‘biggest name to never win a major’ over the last year or so. If not for a last-minute change of heart, he would not even be in the field. But he decided to go to sectional qualifying and played his way into the field. Some time away from the spotlight could be just what Garcia needed to claim his first major championship.
Ernie Els
He hasn’t had a lot of success so far in 2011, but the last time the US Open was at Congressional, Els was the last man standing. 1997 was a long time ago, but the Big Easy should get some positive vibes from returning to the site of a major championship victory.
Matt Kuchar
He’s the most consistent player out there. He always seems to be in the top 15, but hasn’t won a lot to this point. If an American is going to win our national championship, Kuchar is at the top of the list.
Dustin Johnson
His unbelievable length will be a big advantage if he keeps it in play. He could easily have two major victories on his resume and would be the defending champion this week if not for a final round implosion at Pebble Beach. He is ranked in the top 10 in the world.
Lee Westwood
Lee Westwood
Westwood has had a Phil Mickelson like series of close calls in recent majors. He has five top three finishes in the last four years. You’ve got to think his time is coming and it could be this week.
Phil Mickelson
It would be tough to find someone who wants to win our national championship more than Mickelson. He has had close call after close call in this tournament. He hasn’t done much since his win at the 2010 Masters. A win would likely vault him to top spot in the world rankings.
Steve Stricker
Maybe the best putter on tour. He’s playing well (top 13 finishes in his last five events) and coming off of a win at the Memorial. He’s still looking for his first major. His game seems to suit the US Open.
Luke Donald
The new number one ranked player is playing as well as anyone right now. He’s got the accuracy to stay out of trouble and his confidence should be riding high. His pairing with Westwood and Martin Kaymer should be an interesting group.
Graeme McDowell
Curtis Strange is the only back-to-back winner at the US Open in the last 55 years. Can McDowell do it at Congressional? It’s going to be a tall order. He has just one finish in the top 30 in his last five starts.
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