The Players Championship Wrapup
He is too much of a gunslinger. He has demons to exercise. Winged Foot left a negative mark on the rest of his career.
These were just some of the critiques of Phil Mickelson this week.
Now, Mickelson has the best comeback for those critics: I won.
Three months ago Mickelson ran away with the win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am by five strokes and did so with great play tee-to-green. He never looked so confident off the tee (the area he has struggled with his entire career--see Winged Foot) and many people (including myself) thought this could be a “new” Phil. Between the AT&T and three weeks ago, Phil struggled (recording only one top-ten) to continue that new form.
Enter Butch Harmon. You know the guy who retooled Tiger Woods’ swing early in 2000 on his way to the Tiger Slam. Yeah, that guy. He switched camps and took the side of Tigers’ number one competitor: Mickelson.
The Mickelson/Harmon Experience started three weeks ago at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship where Mickelson recorded a tie for third and followed that up with another third last week at the Wachovia Championship.
Mickelson’s general calm and confidence off the tee this week looked eerily similar to his run away win at the AT&T. But, this win was not a run away...at least until the end.
Sean O’Hair took the 54 hole lead after his third round 66 and started the day one stroke ahead of Mickelson.
O’Hair, a one-time winner on the PGA Tour at the John Deere Classic in 2005, wiped the sweat from his hands and gripped his driver as he prepared to play the most important round of his life. The 24-year-old striped his tee shot on number one and the final pairing was off.
Mickelson quickly showed the kid he was there to win and birdied the 1st hole to get to 9-under par. The kid responded back with a nine foot par putt to stay at 9-under and showed the veteran he would not be intimidated.
The final twosome matched each other with birdies on the par-5 2nd to get to 10-under and had a four shot cushion between them and the rest of the field. It was a championship bout on a championship stage: Mickelson vs. O’Hair.
O’Hair would not back down from the world’s number three ranked golfer and continued to give himself a puncher’s chance with clutch putts. After Mickelson birdied the 7th to go to 11-under par, O’Hair made a ten footer on the same hole to save par and stay at 10-under. He then birdied the 9th hole to tie Mickelson at 11-under.
While O’Hair tried to keep pace with Mickelson, Mickelson calmly played the course. Armed with his new swing, he made the 7,215 yard TPC Sawgrass look like your local municipal course. He hit 10 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens.
After the 9th hole, O’Hair’s jab, I mean, his putter went silent. The roars that celebrated O’Hair’s early putts were replaced by quieted groans. Putts on 10, 12 and 16 would not drop for O’Hair as he and Mickelson arrived at the infamous 17th hole.
Prior to the final pairing reaching the par-3 17th, 92 balls found the water surrounding the island green. O’Hair added two more. One off the tee and one from the drop area, O’Hair took dead aim at the back-right Sunday pin and that spelled the end of the Mickelson/O’Hair bout. Winner by TKO: Phil Mickelson.
O’Hair made quadruple bogey on 17 and bogeyed the 18th to drop him from sole second place to 11th place, a difference of $747,000.
Mickelson collected $1.62 million and his 31st career victory. The win moved him into second place in the world rankings and with his new instructor at his side #2 could be challenging #1.
Next week the PGA Tour is in Georgia for the AT&T Classic. Check in all week with hookedongolf.com for updates and results.
