From ‘shell’ to champion in four weeks
One month ago, after coming short in the U.S. Open for an agonizing sixth second-place finish, Phil Mickelson wasn’t being compared to the greatest golfers whoever played the played the game.
It was Tuesday, two days after the defeat, and Mickelson would not get out of bed.
“Usually, he’s good for a little mope and then he’ll come out of it,” Amy Mickelson told Rick Reilly of ESPN. “But this time, he hardly got out of bed for two days. He was a shell. It was the worst disappointment for him of any tournament, by far.”
Amy dragged her husband to Montana for a preplanned family trip that included everything, except golf. He took three weeks off before returning to the Greenbrier Championship in West Virginia, where Mickelson missed the cut.
“Next thing you knew,” Reilly wrote, “Mickelson was raging through Scotland like the Romans. His driver’s license said 43, but his game said 33. He won the Scottish Open last week, then woke up Sunday at the Open Championship in Muirfield 5 shots back and feeling oddly joyous.
“I told him before the round, I thought even par or 1-over would win it,” his coach, Butch Harmon, said. “But he said, ‘I’m going lower than that.’ ”
Four strokes lower, to be exact.
Rewriting history
Back-to-back victories in Scotland have revived talk about Phil Mickelson’s place in golf history.
Let’s get the Tiger Woods comparisons out of the way quickly. Mickelson’s resume includes 42 PGA Tour victories, including 5 majors, and 50 professional victories worldwide, but he has won 9 fewer majors and 36 fewer PGA Tour victories than Woods.
But since 2004, when Mickelson was 34 Tour victories and Woodwas 28. The major count is Woods 6, Mickelson 5, with Mickelson winning two since Tiger won his last in 2008.
Tim Kawakami of the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News sees Mickelson’s British Open victory as a game-changer.
“Generally, as he enters the last stages of his prime, Mickelson has rewritten his career epitaph more thoroughly and more positively than any later-stage athlete I can remember, with the possible exceptions of John Elway and Andre Agassi.
“And because Mickelson is always linked to Woods, Mickelson’s sustained success filters our perception of Woods’ recent downturn, too. … Things have changed. Career trajectories have crossed.
“Woods used to be the model for everyone, and now Mickelson is the loose and brilliant latecareer model for Woods, whether Woods wants to admit it or not.” Jenkins on Phil
Dan Jenkins, the 82-yearold author, golf writer and now tweeter extraordinaire for Golf Digest at major championships, has these 140-letter or less observations from the Open,with the focus on Mickelson and Woods.
4TH ROUND “Phil: Don’t.
Three. Putt. That. … That 66 by Phil is one of the greatest final rounds of a major on one of the most baffling courses I’ve ever seen. … At 43, this would be the 42nd PGA Tour win of Phil’s career, with 29 runner-up finishes and 24 thirds. Last time I checked, that’s good. … Phil said he hit two of the best 3-woods of his life at 17. I wonder how many majors he’d have if he never carried a driver.
Half-kidding.”Jenkins on Tiger
4TH ROUND That’s 8 top sixes for Tiger in 17 majors he’s played since he last won one.
Never thought I’d be compiling anything for him other than wins.
… I forget, who’s the guy in the red shirt walking up 18 with Adam Scott? … Tiger’s five back. Who would have thought that his last big final-day charge in a major might be in the U.S. Amateur? … When Jack was trying for the Slam in 1972, he waited until Sunday to really unleash his driver. Too late.
Has Tiger made the same mistake? … Trying to figure out the odds of Steve Williams giving Tiger a wedgie sometime today.”Quote of the day
“I am not perfect. I realize now that I have made some mistakes. I am willing to accept the consequences of those actions.” Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun on being suspended by Major League Baseball
Sports, Pages 14 on 07/23/2013