Phil Mickelson - M.I.A.
Phil Mickelson’s camp announced today that lefty has hung up the cleats for the season, and probably not a minute too soon for Phil. That means he won’t play in the PGA Grand Slam in November in Hawaii, which traditionally hosts the 4 major winners for a silly-season event right before Thanksgiving.
What a swing of emotions this year has been for Mickelson. He won the Masters in April and the entire golfing world had him proclaimed as the next Tiger beater. He was, in Sports Illustrated eyes, the Peoples Choice, and the Michelin Man lookalike became everyman’s favorite golfer to root for. He was/is the anti-Tiger in every respect: soft and plumpy instead of chiseled; outgoing instead of introspective; creative instead of calculating; swashbuckling instead of steady.
And then came the 2006 U.S. Open at Medinah. Leading up to the U.S. Open, Tiger hadn’t played any competitive golf for a couple of months because his Father had passed away, so no one expected too much out him. But no one anticipated Tiger missing the cut at a major championship. The shock reverberated around the golfing world, but everyone also understood, given Tiger’s personal grief he was dealing with.
That fortunately, left the door open for Mickelson to grab the second leg of the Grand Slam. And Mickelson went after it with all his might and ability. As it turned out, Mickelson struggled with his driver all day on Sunday of the U.S. Open, but still had a chance to win, and certainly tie for the lead as he reached the 18th tee. In what might go down as the second-most idiotic play in golf, Phil grabbed his driver and wailed with all his might, right into the rough off the left side of the fairway. Now he had a tree (actually multiple trees) between his ball and the green, and the smart play would have been to chip the ball out to the fairway and play for a bogey, at worst.
Sadly, the swashbuckling Phil hit the most idiotic shot in golf history, when he tried to go through and/or around the tree in front of him. The rest is history as Mickelson went on to make double-bogey, missing the playoff and handing the U.S. Open to Geoff Ogilvy. However, I don’t think anyone predicted how long it’s taken Phil to get over his questionable play. As I said here in the Ryder Cup review, Mickelson looked like he was sleepwalking the entire time at the Ryder Cup.
There’s no doubt Mickelson is full of talent, but he’s really got to decide which Phil is going to show up and then accept whatever consequences come with it. Personally, I like swashbuckling Phil, but it’s definitely a double-edged sword.
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