Phil Mickelson didn't think a sports hernia surgery would keep him out very long until he injured it again while practicing for his return. He managed to heal ahead of schedule allowing him to return at the CareerBuilder Challenge where he is a tournament ambassador.
Now he's not going to stop for a while.
Mickelson is playing in the Phoenix Open this week -- his third consecutive event -- with two more to follow. He plans to return to Pebble Beach next week, and then will play in the Genesis Open at Riviera.
"If I were going to start 100 percent, it would be about Phoenix," he said after finishing in a tie for 14th over the weekend at Torrey Pines. "Yet my game came around quicker than I thought it would, and I felt the best place to sharpen it and see where I was at was to play last week and this week. I'm really glad I did because my touch is starting to come around."
No one does the West Coast quite like Mickelson.
He won in Tucson, Ariz., as an amateur in 1991. He has won the Phoenix Open three times. He has won Pebble Beach four times (he was runner-up last year), and he won back-to-back at Riviera in 2008-2009.
"I'm looking forward to these next three weeks, and I get to play at three spots that I really love," he said.
Mickelson, who turns 47 in May, has not won since his fifth major at the 2013 British Open.
Longhorns' misery
Tom Herman has taken over a Texas program that has been among the most disappointing in college football for the better part of the past seven years, and the struggles have had an impact on the recruiting trail.
As Geoff Ketchum of OrangeBloods.com noted Wednesday, the Longhorns failed to sign any of the top 10 recruits in the state of Texas on national signing day for the first time in program history. While there was once a time when Texas was consistently among the top five in the nation in recruiting classes, Herman offered a sobering reminder of how times have changed.
"Nowadays, Texas has to recruit like they're Iowa State," Herman told ESPN.
The Longhorns were 16-21 in their three seasons under Charlie Strong and did not win a bowl game. The lack of success has hurt recruiting, and it's also possible some recruits weren't impressed with the way Herman left Houston.
The final word
"I said, 'Come on, mate. You're married to Gisele, you're Tom Brady the quarterback and you're hitting it 20 yards by me. Stop it. Be bad at something.' " -- professional golfer Graeme McDowell, on playing nine holes with Brady in the Bahamas.
Sports on 02/02/2017