For U.S., a Cup of Ryder road woes

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This was a while ago, and Davis Love III was in the process of returning to his South Carolina home from a tournament when a neighbor offered a greeting and a question.

”He asked me what the Ryder Cup was,” recalled Love, “And how did we lose it.”

The years pass, and if the event, the biennial golf competition between the United States and Europe, can easily be explained with four-ball, foursomes, and singles. The results of many recent matches are less so.

Even to the-called experts. Perhaps most of all to so-called experts.

America has had the best players, right? Other than, previously Seve Ballesteros and currently, say, Jon Rahm. But that’s only two.

So why does Europe keep thumping the Americans? Particularly when America is the visiting team, as it will be when the 44th Cup is held in the suburbs of Rome Friday through Sunday. America has lost the last six matches when passports are a requirement. They — we, if you choose — have been beaten in England, France, Wales, Spain, Scotland and Ireland. If not in that particular order. Of course, they’ve also been drubbed back in the U.S., although they have won the last two in America.

As a yardstick, it is how ineffective various groups of Americans have been. Consider the 2004 matches that were held in Detroit, the U.S. team included Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and was an embarrassment.

What’s wrong with America? Or right with Europe? Theories are as numerous as shots at the practice tee.

We’re told U.S. golfers are too individualistic to care about team play. We’re told the Euros come from more humble backgrounds and that winning the Cup means more to them — and their countries.

For sure they celebrate the success loudly and boisterously, the musical lyrics, “Ole, ole ole,” resounding from their team rooms and from their fans.

It isn’t the 49ers vs. the Cowboys or the Yankees against the Red Sox. It’s them against us — or more specifically against the U.S.

And fans are incorrigible. Yes, the Olympics involve more nations in more sports. But in the Ryder Cup, the fans are pinching in close.

“It’s one-sided,” Fred Couples, a former Ryder Cupper, told Golf Channel. “You can feel them breathing down the back of your necks. They‘re waiting for you to screw up.”

Lanny Wadkins played his college golf at Wake Forest, which despite numerous stars never won a team championship. “I guess we didn’t pass the ball around enough,” he said with more than a bit of sarcasm.

In the Ryder Cup, what the American team needs to pass is the test. It has to start quickly — the first-day leader is the inevitable champion — and start well.   

And finally, stop losing a Ryder Cup match in Europe.

Phil never afraid to take a shot or a chance

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BROOKLINE, Mass. — So he’s back again, back in competition, back at the U.S. Open, which he’s never won — and, after a period of silence some thought was too short and others believed was too lengthy, back in the headlines.

Good old Phil Mickelson has taken the challenge and taken the podium, enmeshed in a controversy of his own creation — that Saudi golf situation — and having as much fun trying to be right as he does swinging a golf club from the left.

At his age Mickelson, who turns 52 Thursday during the opening round, doesn’t have a legit chance for the championship of this 122nd Open, but that hardly matters.

Phil is by far the most interesting player in the field, never afraid to make any shot or until recently any observation. Play it as lies is the essence of golf, and when it comes to Mickelson and his remarks, all interpretations are allowed.

Mickelson’s near misses in the Open — he has six seconds overall — would normally be a primary storyline, but not this time. Phil was one of the people who persuaded the wealthy Saudi princes to pony up (camel up?) hundreds of millions for what is called the LIV Tour, stealing pros from the PGA Tour.

Phil and others who opted for the LIV have been handed lifetime suspensions by the PGA Tour, but the Open (and the British Open) are not controlled by the PGA Tour so Mickelson is here without restrictions. Or regrets. Although not without criticism.

Osama bin Laden, responsible for the 9/11 attacks, was Saudi. Relatives of 9/11 victims have expressed their outrage to Mickelson and other golfers willing to play for Saudi money. Mickelson could only say he has a deep sense of empathy for the families and loved ones. But earlier he had admitted the Saudis killed the journalist Jamal Khashoggi and had a miserable record on human rights.

Surely these were not the sort of conversations heard on an Open course, this time at The Country Club near Boston, but golf is in a state of flux.    

Mickelson has a strange relationship with other pros, admired by many for his play and relationship with spectators, willing to step into crowds. But he’s disliked by others who see him as a bit of a phony.

For the most part, he was a fan favorite — at the U.S. Open at Bethpage in New York, they chanted “Philly Mick” — and he was asked how they might treat him after he deserts the PGA Tour.

“If fans would leave or whatnot,” said Mickelson, “I respect and understand their opinion and I understand they have strong emotions regarding this choice.”

Mickelson said he has worked to curtail what has been both an expensive and, according to rumored threats demanding payoffs, a sometimes anguished gambling habit. One of the reasons he got involved with the Saudis was to pay off millions in wagers.

Phil’s game reflects his personality. And vice versa. He was never a guy to play it safe. That cost him the 2016 Open at Winged Foot ,when he double-bogeyed the 72nd hole and maybe cost him large hunks of the millions he won playing golf.

Still he became arguably the second most popular American golfer next to Tiger Woods.

He won more than 40 tournaments. Won five majors. He did what he felt he needed to do. But that Saudi thing was a sad twist to the tale.

Golf, politics and money: a PGA without Phil

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TULSA, Okla. — How the 104th PGA Championship got here is a tale of golf, politics and money. And why Phil Mickelson, who a year ago became the oldest man to win the tournament — and thus the oldest to win a major — isn’t here. Yes, a tale of golf, politics and money.

This PGA was going to be played in New Jersey, considerably east of Oklahoma. On a course owned by a man named Donald Trump, who at the time was president of the United States of America.

But then came the election, and Trump’s refusal to adhere to the law, which he had pledged to uphold. And when Trump not only did nothing to quell the Capitol — whatever, uprising, riot, insurrection — but actually encouraged it, the good people of the PGA made the move to Southern Hills.

Whether Mickelson is making any moves — he hasn’t played competitively since March — remains a mystery. The PGA wanted him here. After all, how many times do you have a 51-year-old defending champion? (Answer: never.) But Phil didn’t come out of his hiding place, if that be the proper term.

We’ll know more about Mickelson when a book by Alan Shipnuck comes out in a matter of days. Already we found out from Shipnuck’s teasing emails that Mickelson lost so much money gambling, in excess of $40 million, he was forced to join forces with rich Saudi oil sheiks, whom he refers to as murderers and mother-bleepers, to bail him out.

Shipnuck has brought in Michael Bamberger, a former colleague at Sports Illustrated, as part of a writing project called “Fire Pit Collective,” and Bamberger did much of the research on Trump’s course in Bedminster, N.J.

Jack Nicklaus, who built courses for Trump and many others, and not incidentally won 18 majors, called the decision to take the PGA away from Trump ”cancel culture,” yet the PGA was thinking of it not so much of a cancellation as adaptive. It wanted a sporting event, not chaos.

In the periphery is Greg Norman, who, because all of golf is one unhappy family, joined the Saudis (and their finances) to support his own interests against the PGA Tour. Norman was no minimal figure in Mickelson’s dealings, Phil wedging his own struggle against the Tour.

When he appeared for a media interview on Monday, Tiger Woods, not surprisingly, was asked about Mickelson’s situation.

“It's always disappointing when the defending champion is not here,” said Woods. “Phil has said some things that I think a lot of us who are committed to the Tour, and committed to the legacy of the Tour, have pushed back against, and he's taken some personal time, and we all understand that.

“But I think that some of his views on how the tour could be run, should be run, has been a lot of disagreement there. But as we all know, as a professional, we miss him being out here.”

And then we swing back to money, because the word professional is in the label; the better the entry list, the better the TV ratings and eventually the better the payoffs. 

“I mean, he's a big draw for the game of golf,” said Woods. ”He's just taking his time, and we all wish him the best when he comes back. Obviously we're going to have a difference of opinions, how he sees the Tour, and we'll go from there.”

It’s hard to say where golf is going, but we know where it went, from a course owned by a former U.S. president to one in Oklahoma, hoping to escape as much controversy as possible.

Fore!

Masters is missing one master: Phil

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — He’s not on the leader board. The people up there are Scottie Scheffler, Charl Schwartzel — a past champion — and Sungjae Im.

Great golfers, certainly, at least great enough to play in this first major championship of the year.

But not great names. Like Phil Mickelson.

Still, they’re here. Who knows where Phil is? Suspended? Hiding out? Preparing for the Champions Tour? The mystery, perhaps self-created by Phil, will not be solved until someone speaks out.

It all seems contrary to the nature of golf, a sport more than any other built around honesty and openness. Contestants keep their own scorecards; players are expected call penalties on themselves.

But it’s also a sport where the people in charge, the administrators, are absurdly protective, reluctant to be candid.

Someone in the NFL or NBA is fined or suspended, we are given the facts and the fees. Golf gives us the runaround.

Several years ago, Dustin Johnson, who is very much in contention halfway through this Masters, virtually disappeared from golf.

He was stepping away, we were told. Was it because he had been stepped on by the Tour, suspended? That was the rumor.

It’s been a difficult few months for Mickelson. His idea of remodeling the “greedy” PGA Tour, more specifically the money distribution, by uniting with the Saudis, embarrassed Mickelson, who hasn’t played anywhere since.

The shame is Phil had made history in 2021 by taking the PGA  Championship at age 50, becoming the oldest man ever to win a major.

“He’s been a big part of our history,” Augusta National chair Fred Ridley said of Mickelson. “I certainly and we certainly wish him the best, sort of working through the issues he’s dealing with right now.”

Ridley was asked during a Wednesday news conference whether the Masters had “disinvited” Mickelson. Ridley denied that had happened.

Mickelson has not played a tour event since January, and it is not clear when he might return to competition. He has made 29 starts at the Masters, and this year will mark the first time he has not participated since 1994, when he was recovering from a broken leg suffered in a skiing mishap. Mickelson, who won the Masters in 2004, 2006 and 2010, reportedly was not in attendance Tuesday at the annual champions’ dinner.

“I know I have not been my best,” he wrote in a February statement, “and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.”

When will that be? If Phil thought his appearance would have a negative effect on the Masters, well, the opposite is true. The media, the public, want to know why he’s absent.

Tiger Woods returned this Masters after that awful auto accident. Phil also returning would have awarded the tournament its finest champions of the last 20 years, and revived a hint of their tremendous rivalry.

Come on back, Phil.

Phil always had to be different

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He’s always been the one who had to be different. Sometimes for the better. Often for the bizarre. Have his caddy pull the flag on a shot 70 yards from the cup? Blame the captain of a losing Ryder Cup team of which he was a member? Intentionally hit a moving ball while the world watched during the 2018 U.S. Open? That was Phil Mickelson.

He pushed the envelope and pulled our chains. Indeed, the way he belittled Tom Watson for what Phil contended was mishandling the preparations for the American team in the 2014 Ryder Cup was awkward and embarrassing.

The other incidents, the flagstick at Torrey Pines, knowingly violating the rules of golf by smacking a ball that was in motion during the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, were goofy. As people said, “Phil being Phil.”

What’s happening inside the heads of these great sporting stars? Novak Djokovic, No. 1 in the world tennis rankings, refuses to accept the mandatory Covid-19 vaccination, is thrown out of the country before the start of the Australian Open and also may be banned from the French Open and Wimbledon.

Mickelson had this hare-brained idea he could revise golf by persuading the big boys to abandon the Tour and play in Saudi Arabia for huge sums of money. The players and, not surprisingly, Tour executives were not thrilled. Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson were outspoken in favor of the status quo.

That Mickelson felt compelled to apologize perhaps was as much a result of capitalism as contrition. If you thought the general public was, say, disturbed by Phil’s plans, how do you think his sponsors, the firms that sell their services and products to that general public, feel?

The golf stars earn several million a year alone for what is on the front of their hat, the most visible article of attire any pro wears and a reason that even after a round, and particularly during interviews, it never is removed. For years, Mickelson’s hat — or visor — displayed “KPMG,” the international consulting and accounting group..

KPMG announced Tuesday that it ended its relationship with Mickelson, a deal that that began in 2008. Although the release said the two sides had “mutually agreed” to end the partnership, it was clearly a reaction to eroding support for Mickelson

“The Tour likes to pretend it’s a democracy, but it’s really a dictatorship,” Mickelson told author Alan Shipnuck. “They divide and conquer. The concerns of the top players are very different from the guys who are lower down on the money list, but there’s a lot more of them. They use the top guys to make their own situation better, but the top guys don’t have a say.”

Mickelson said the conversations with Shipnuck, a former Sports Illustrated staffer, were off the record, but Shipnuck said that was not true.

Where Phil goes from here is a question, not that having earned some $800 million in a career that included six majors he needs to go anywhere. If and when he returns to golf — a PGA Tour suspension is unlikely — Mickelson could be an outcast, but that’s improbable.

He always was the guy talking to the gallery, signing autographs. Besides, sports fans are notably forgiving. As Jaime Diaz pointed out on the Golf Channel, it didn’t take long for Tiger Woods to regain his status after his escapades. Phil didn’t try to overthrow the government, just change golf the wrong way.

"Although it doesn't look this way now given my recent comments,” wrote Mickelson, either on his own or after persuasion, “my actions throughout this process have always been with the best interests of golf, my peers, sponsors and fans. There is the problem of off-the-record comments being shared out of context and without my consent, but the bigger issue is that I used words that do not reflect my true feelings or intentions.

"It was reckless, I offended people, and I am deeply sorry for my choice of words. I'm beyond disappointed and will make every effort to self-reflect and learn from this."

Phil wants to take over the Tour — but he’s not at Riviera

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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — So Phil Mickelson, who’s not even here, wants to remake the PGA Tour and blocked his Twitter account.

Somebody from Golf Digest hopes the Waste Management Phoenix Open will not continue to play the last round during the Super bowl.

And there’s a story the Saudis are going to destroy pro golf as we know it with their millions.

But looking down the fairway from the elevated first tee at Riviera Country Club, there’s a better view of golf, one of old eucalyptus trees, kikuyu fairways and a tournament as competitive as it is historic.

Round one of the Genesis Invitational on Thursday offered a leaderboard that included the guy who won in Arizona on Sunday, Scottie Scheffler — yes, when you’re hot, you’re hot — Jordan Spieth and, on top, Joaquin Niemann. 

Obviously it did not include Phil, a.k.a. Lefty, who although residing maybe 80 miles south and having won here — remember the time he flew up daily in his jet? — chose not to enter.

But apparently he has chosen to push the limits of how pro golf is controlled. And also chosen not to allow critics to enter his social media platform.

Phil is always one of the friendlier, more cooperative guys in golf, full of opinions, willing to take a stand or a chance on making a tough shot.

Virtually everyone was thrilled when last summer, at almost age 51, he took the PGA Championship and became the oldest man ever to win a major.

Then a couple weeks ago, Mickelson skipped the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which he had won five times, to play in the filthy rich Saudi event — and while there lambasted the PGA Tour for “obnoxious greed.”

While explaining why he would be open to playing in the filthy rich Saudi Golf League.

That didn’t make him overly popular with those who run the Tour or play the Tour, or with Brandel Chamblee, the astute Golf Channel commentator who briefly played on the Tour. Chamblee referred to Mickelson as a highly paid ventriloquist puppet.

Phil recently claimed that Augusta National, the club where he won the Masters three times, made $3.5 million from licensing his 2010 shot off the pine needles to the 13th green.

It’s amazing how a game supposedly built on sportsmanship and fair play can make so many people so angry, including fans and media. Of course, it’s also built on money.

According to Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, Mickelson told a journalist writing a biography on him that he recruited three other “top players” to the Saudi-supported golf league. And his intent is to remake the Tour more than to help Saudi golf.    

The comments are from an interview with former Sports Illustrated golf writer Alan Shipnuck, who has a book on Mickelson coming in May.

“They’re scary mother-bleepers to get associated with,” Mickelson said of the Saudis. “We know they killed (Washington Post reporter Jamal) Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights.

“Why should I get involved? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”    

The worry may be how Phil operates. Anger is being expressed against Mickelson in messages on the internet. He responded in kind. Off went Phil’s site.  

That’s the side of golf some prefer to ignore. Controversy sells, but so do birdie putts and success stories. They prefer beautiful locations such as Riviera, which along with Pebble is one of California’s most famous, as well as one of its best.

The pros hesitate to put too much into the opening round of any event — they tell us you can’t win a tournament on the first day, but you can lose it — but those were impressive starts on Thursday.

Niemann had an 8-under 63, while Scheffler, Spieth, Cameron Young and Max Homa shot 66.

But the question remains: With this Mickelson news, will anyone notice?

Tour surrenders AT&T golf to Saudi event

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So the PGA Tour surrendered, although no one involved would use that term. Maybe “gave in to reality” is more accurate.

Realized the big names always get their way, so why not give them what they want and avoid a conflict in what was once called the gentleman’s game.

The winners, among others, are Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and the Saudi International tournament.

The losers are the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, CBS television and the restaurants and shops on the Monterey Peninsula.

The AT&T, which started as the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, has been around for more than 80 years. It’s a traditional stop on Tour. But tradition has no chance when matched against oil sheiks.

They created a tournament that the Asian Tour chose to endorse after the former European Tour (it’s been re-named the DP World Tour) stepped away. It is held at Royal Greens Golf Club near Jeddah and offers a huge purse and appearance fees.

That both events are to be staged in the first week in February makes for a difficult situation. Let’s go to the past tense — made for a difficult situation.

When a Tour player wants to enter an event opposite one on the Tour schedule, he must receive approval — and agree to stipulations for the future.  

On Monday, Saudi officials sent a media release mentioning they had commitments from 11 major champions. Golf Digest asked who would blink first. We found out quickly enough.

It was the Tour. When the AT&T does get underway, they should put white flags in the cups.

Yes, I know the players are “independent contractors” and go where the money is, and I also know that in personality-driven sports such as golf (Tiger Woods, Mickelson) and tennis (Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams) the stars have leverage.

But they built their reputations and bank accounts in tournaments that enabled them to learn and improve. And earn.

The AT&T may offer celebrities and wonderful courses deep in the forest or along the bay, but it’s golf competition, and you want the top players, the ones who drive up attendance and TV ratings as well as drive a ball 330 yards down a fairway.

Long ago, when I tended to write about Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, even if they weren’t on the leader board or in the field, a golf official suggested I focus on the little-known players, to let people know who they were.

But that infamous headline, “Unknown wins Crosby,” will get only shrugs. ESPN, for better or worse, figured it out: Names are more important than games.

It didn’t matter that Tiger before the accident was 10 shots behind. To ESPN he was the story, often the only story.

You know that over the weekend Woods and his 12-year-old son, Charlie, played in the PNC father-son tournament. There were stories and videos from here to St. Andrews. Wow!

Tiger hasn’t been in the ATT for a while, but Mickelson and Dustin Johnson not only were there but more than once finished first. This coming February, however, they’ll be in Saudi Arabia.

The longtime tournament director of the AT&T, Steve John, has to be diplomatic and measured in any criticism. He’s not going to whine about players he hopes will be back in coming years.

"We are still focused on the many highlights of our tournament week," John told James Raia in the Monterey Herald. "We will be messaging that we will eclipse the $200 million milestone in supporting deserving non-profits in and around our community."

“We have received overwhelming community support from fans showing how eager they are to see their favorite celebrities.”

Good, but Phil Mickelson or Dustin Johnson wouldn’t hurt. In fact, they would help.

At the Fortinet, they should offer a toast to Phil

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NAPA — Golf and tennis are constructed on reputation, on celebrity. If you don’t have home games, you better have big names.

May we offer a toast, then, to Phil Mickelson, if with something other than the $30,000 bottle of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti he once was privileged to drink.

Phil wasn’t leading the Fortinet Championship after Saturday’s third round — although at 10 under par after a 5-under 67 he’s in a respectable position — but he was keeping himself involved.

No less importantly, keeping us involved.

Remember how in every tournament, people would ask, “Where’s Tiger?” As we know too well, Tiger is recovering from his auto accident and never may play again.

So the sport should be grateful to Phil, who months after taking the PGA Championship at age 50 and becoming the oldest man to win a major, keeps playing — especially in tournaments struggling for recognition.

Which if you saw the fans — or rather lack of them, with nobody along the gallery ropes — would be the Fortinet, previously the Safeway and before that the Fry’s.

The PGA Tour has a problem. It’s the Julian calendar. There are 365 days, and golf can be played on every one of them. That works for many of the pros, but not necessarily for the public.

The week after the 2021 schedule concluded with the Tour Championship, the 2021-22 schedule began. Not only did the calendar year remain unchanged, 2021, so did the month, September.

But there is a sport called football, which dominates television from September through January, leaving golf to survive with tournaments that sometimes go unnoticed, if not unwatched.

But Mickelson always gets noticed, deservedly. Sometimes it’s for the wrong reasons, his pretension, his demands. But usually it’s for his golf: the uninhibited way he plays the game, his achievements (six majors), his misses (six seconds and no wins in the U.S. Open).

“Lefty,” he’s nicknamed because he swings left-handed — even though he’s right-handed. He’s known for the difficult (last week as a gimmick, he hit a flop shot over Steph Curry) and for the miraculous (Friday after his 2-wood broke, he used a driver off the fairway to save par at Silverado’s 18th).

He was on the cover of Golf Digest hitting shots backward when still at Arizona State. He was on top of the world winning a major at 50, something neither Jack Nicklaus nor anyone else could accomplish.

Arrogant? To the extreme. A few years ago, at Torrey Pines at the tournament now known as the Farmers, he ordered his caddy to pull the pin when the ball was 150 yards from the cup.

Competent? He is out there beating people young enough to be his son.

On Saturday, he got rolling on the back nine, making five birdies in a row, 13 through 17. Vintage Phil, an appropriate phrase here in the Napa Valley wine country.

“I finished up well,” Mickelson confirmed. “Had a nice stretch with the putter. I had a chance the first eight holes to get the round going, and I let a few opportunities slide, but I came back with a good, solid round.

“I’m in a position where a good round (Sunday) will do some good, and it’s fun to have a later tee time and to feel some of the nerves and so forth.”

He’s at 206 after 54 holes, four shots behind. “I know I’m going to have to shoot probably 7, 8, 9 under par to have a chance,” Mickelson said, “but either way, it’s fun having that chance.”

Fun for Phil. Fun for all of pro golf.

It’s Phil’s hometown, but it’s been Tiger’s course

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SAN DIEGO — He had his renaissance and his record only days ago. So how much more can we expect from Phil Mickelson? Even in his hometown? Even on the course he played as a kid?

There will be no tears shed now for Mickelson’s game. Not that there should have been.

What he accomplished in May, at age 50 taking the PGA Championship, becoming the oldest to win a major, gave him a deserved place in the history of the royal and ancient game.

And yet this is the U.S. Open, America’s golfing championship, the tournament in which Mickelson — through failings of his own, through brilliance by others — has finished second six times but never finished first.

His 51st birthday was Wednesday, the day before the start of the 121st Open. Too old to compete in what presumably will be his last Open. Or is it? He had no chance in the PGA, right?

Five men have won each of the four majors, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. Mickelson would be a perfect sixth. Especially winning at Torrey, where he once played high school matches.

Then again, in a field that includes Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau — feuding, fussing and not-yet fighting — and Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas, all younger, let us not drift too far from reality.

If Phil were going to win an Open at Torrey, it would have been in 2008. He was paired with Tiger, who was hurting and would require leg surgery immediately after the event. But Tiger smoked Mickelson, smoked everybody, and so much for what could have been.

In Phil’s town, Torrey remained Tiger’s course.

As has been pointed out, Phil, in fact, was Tiger before Tiger, winning the Tucson Open while still an amateur, being touted as America’s next great player — before, indeed, Tiger became America’s next great player.

Whatever Mickelson honestly thinks of what transpired, he comes across as someone accepting of his fate and status. And of Tiger’s, who although growing up some 45 miles away from Phil, because of the six-year difference in ages, never faced him in the juniors.

“I don’t have any particularly funny stories,” Mickelson said of his first two rounds with Tiger in the ’08 Open. “I remember Tiger bogied — or double-bogied — the first hole, and I think both days and still won the tournament.”

Woods also had numerous victories at Torrey in the Farmers insurance or Buick Open, whatever the name of the event was each February at Torrey, and so the mayor of San Diego is going to put a plaque honoring Woods at the course.

Thinking back to Woods’ over-par starts in that Open, Mickelson said, “I thought that was pretty inspiring the way he didn’t let it affect him. He stayed to his game plan. Stayed focused. Stayed patient picking his spots where he could get a stroke here and there.

“And he ended up winning. That’s impressive.”

So was Mickelson winning the PGA Championship at an age when many people thought he should be shifting full-time to the Champions Tour, the seniors.

Phil has established his own standard.

“At the age of 50, he’s been playing on the PGA Tour for as long or longer than I’ve been alive,’’ said one of the favorites this week, Jon Rahm, who was born in 1994, three years after the first of Mickelson’s 45 PGA Tour wins.

“He still has that enthusiasm and that drive to become better and beat the best,” Rahm said. “I hope that in 25-plus years, I still have the same enthusiasm and the same grit to become better.’’

A fine tribute, especially in a person’s hometown.

This time, Phil being Phil was historic

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The phrase became as famous as the man who went about becoming infamous. “Phil being Phil,” they said to explain or justify Phil Mickelson’s personal and occasionally contentious style, on a golf course or off.

No one ever doubted Phil could play the game — he was on the cover of Golf Digest when still an amateur — and as we learned over the years, he also could talk the game.

You want an opinion, you want a bit of brilliance, or arrogance, Phil was your guy. He was fearless, driving a car — Jaime Diaz wrote about Mickelson’s hair-raising zip through traffic after a Chargers game in San Diego — or driving a dimpled ball through the trees.

But it was hard not to like Phil, even when he blew the final-hole lead in the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, throwing caution and the tournament to the wind and calling himself an idiot. Which is why it was so satisfying when Mickelson set a record for a lifetime, his and ours, becoming at 50 the oldest man to win a major, the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

It’s also hard not to connect Mickelson and the man who grew up maybe 45 miles from him in Southern California, Tiger Woods.

Truth tell, Phil was Tiger before Tiger, Mickelson winning a PGA tournament when still at Arizona State. Phil and Ernie Els were supposed to dominate the game. Then, boom, in the 1997 Masters, along came Woods.

Tiger is different, private until the last few years, rarely outspoken in interviews, His popularity strictly was based on the play that made him the best in the world. Phil could debate a journalist or wave at a spectator.

He had a frat boy sense of humor. When in Ireland for the Walker Cup, the amateur event between the United States and United Kingdom, Mickelson hit a ball into the gallery.

Asked after the match about walking with the spectators, he wisecracked, “I thought these Irish girls are supposed to be pretty.”

The Mickelsons are loaded with talent. Phil’s dad was such an expert skier he was considered for the U.S. Olympic Team. Phil was sharp on the slopes until breaking a leg. His sister is a golf pro.

If Phil lacked for humility, that was understandable and most times not a problem. Most times. Then there were times such as the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, when for some reason or another he held putting practice on the 13th green — during the third round.

He could have been disqualified but — Phil being Phil — was only penalized. Comic relief? An opportunity to take a stand against the U.S. Golf Association? Certainly an attention-grabber.

Mickelson was stricken a decade ago with a psoriatic arthritis, which is incurable. Obviously that hasn’t stopped him from playing and winning. The man is persistent and occasionally ridiculous.

There’s nothing he feels he can’t do, to a point of absurdity.

A few years back, he was 150 yards from the cup on the 18th at Torrey Pines, in the last round of what is now the Farmers Open, and told his caddy to pull the flagstick. No, the shot did not go in.

Phil will attempt almost anything. He chartered a jet daily to fly the roughly 120 miles from north of San Diego to L.A. so he could stay at home and play in the tournament at Riviera.

What he’ll try in the coming days at Torrey, where he’s played forever, is to finally win the U.S. Open, missing from his resume.

At his age and after finishing runner-up six times, the prospect is unlikely. But then again, so was winning the PGA.

Phil in the water and out of the AT&T; John Daly looking like Moses

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — So Dustin Johnson withdrew and Tiger Woods rarely enters, but let’s not dwell on the negative, which golfers and journalists seem to emphasize, even when the sun shines — which it did Friday afternoon on the Monterey Peninsula.

True, Phil Mickelson hit two balls into Carmel Bay off Pebble Beach’s 18th and another into the backyard of one of those mega-million-dollar mansions along the 14th.

And John Daly, with a long white beard that made him look like Moses, missed the cut. And first-round leader Patrick Cantlay was 11 shots higher than the first round.

But think about Jordan Spieth, out front after 36 holes and in great shape to win for the first time in three and a half years.

Or the city manager in adjacent Carmel, who will collect a $100 fine, as the signs warn, from anyone reckless enough to appear on the streets of the formerly quaint little burg without a face mask.

Yes, Covid-19 times everywhere you wanted to wander, whether to the course, where there are no amateurs, celebrity or otherwise, or to the Hog’s Breath Inn, formerly owned by Clint Eastwood, who formerly was mayor of Carmel — and before that, a movie star.

If Clint, a longtime AT&T tournament board member (and formerly an entrant) will no longer play “Misty” for us, well, the mist is supposed to return for Saturday’s third round — Crosby weather.

Unfortunately Mickelson, who won the tournament five times (as did Mark O’Meara), will not return for the third round. For what was announced as only the fifth time in 2,507 tournament rounds as a pro, Phil failed to break 80. The 80 he recorded along with his 74 on Thursday at Spyglass Hill gave him a 154. The cut was 143.

Mickelson has been doing better on the Champions Tour, guys 50 and over. Phil turned 50 in June. Daly, 54, has been on the Champions Tour full time, even after being diagnosed for bladder cancer.

“I’m not shaving until I’m cured,” said a courageous Daly. Against the younger guys here at Pebble and Spyglass, Daly shot 80-77 — 157.

That was one stroke lower than Kamaiu Johnson, 27, who was playing in a Tour event for the first time. Johnson was found outside a course in Tallahassee, Fla., swinging a stick, invited to take lessons and won on the Advocates Tour. Johnson next will play in the Honda.

The Tour can be difficult, even when you’re a champion. Spieth won the Masters and U.S. Open in 2015, other events including the 2017 AT&T and then in July 2017 the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

But nothing since, and so he’s been asked again and again when the drought will end. He shot a 61 in last weekend’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, and even if he did not win — Brooks Koepka did — Spieth was satisfied.

As he was on Saturday after a 67 at Spyglass for 132. Daniel Berger, a winner on Tour, shot 66 at Pebble for 133. Henrik Norlander was at 64-70—134, while Cantlay, starting off the 10 at Spyglass with a lost ball and a bogey, had a 73 — compared to his 62 Thursday at Pebble.

“I'm in great position after the midway point,” said Spieth. “So I feel a little bit improved, getting better each day. Yeah, I made a ton of longer putts, like in order to be in the lead like normal, which is probably a really good sign that I'm keeping the ball in front of me and striking it really nicely, and a couple mistakes here or there. Other than that, it was really clean.”

Said Cantlay: “It wasn't that bad after that first tee shot. I didn't make very many putts, hit a lot of good putts, and the greens, like always, are just bumpy and I wasn't able to get many to go in. But all in all, I played pretty good today.

“Just obviously two shots worse, just not finding the golf ball.”

Not all golfers emphasize the negative — unlike all journalists.

Phil implied there would be trouble — and there was

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By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

Golf is different. In team sports, when those in charge no longer believe you are ineffective, that you’re too old, they put you on waivers or drop you — as the San Francisco Giants did recently with longtime favorites Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2020, The Maven

Tiger, Phil, Peyton, Tom: $20 million and a ton of rain

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By Art Spander

“Like throwing a little swing pass to the running back.” That was Phil Mickelson, coach Phil, giving advice to partner Tom Brady, before Brady had a little chip shot only a few people not named Phil Mickelson could hope to execute.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2020, The Maven

Mickelson: ‘I got outplayed, and I’m fine with that’

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By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For a moment there, when he was 3-under-par on the first six holes, it seemed Phil Mickelson, back on the course he loves, was going to show us again it didn’t matter how old he was or how few fairways he hit — that it was magic time once more.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2020, The Maven 

Newsday (N.Y.): Aging Phil Mickelson not in mix on a favorite venue in the tournament he most wants to win

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The familiar line about aging in golf is that the ball doesn’t know how old you are. Your body does, certainly. And as in every sport, the ultimate winner eventually proves to be Father Time.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2019 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson celebrated but not in hunt at U.S. Open

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — For Phil Mickelson it was a round of nostalgia. For Tiger Woods it was one of staying relevant. Others were leading this 119th U.S. Open on Saturday, but for a few hours early on Phil and Tiger were the attractions.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2019 Newsday. All rights reserved.