Woods not the guy in Pres Cup;
Try the leftie with the old touch
SAN FRANCISCO – Tiger Woods is not the guy to watch in the Presidents Cup. The verdict has been in for quite some time on that knee surgery, and there’s no chance on it being overturned on appeal, no matter how many players on the tour file. The surgery took. That ligament is working just dandy – 17 starts, six wins, seven other top-10 finishes, one glitch (missing the cut in the British Open) and $10.5 million in winnings, and not including that $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.
So Tiger Woods is doing OK and will be his old self when the Pres Cup matches start Thursday, the Pres Cup being the every-other-year opposite the Ryder Cup, matching an American team against a team from the rest of the world. The much older Ryder Cup is the U.S. vs. Europe. The name doesn’t matter. Woods and match play historically have not been the best of friends.
The guy to watch will be Phil Mickelson, himself no match play whiz, the man who spent the summer in hell and who, it seems, came through OK. Any time you beat Tiger Woods head-to-head, you’re doing OK.
The question was, which Phil Mickelson will show up here at Harding Park, San Francisco’s muni that’s been fluffed up for the big time, much like Bethpage Black and Torrey Pines.
This was Mickelson’s summer in hell: Both Amy, his wife, and his mother, by the most monstrous of coincidences, were diagnosed with breast cancer last June. Both underwent surgery and are in post-operative cancer treatment. It was Amy’s diagnosis last June that knocked Mickelson off the tour and limited his season. The priority concerns, of course, were Amy and his mother. But after that, what would be the effect on Phil, on his morale, his psyche, his game? Both the psychological impact and the lack of play and competition.
Mickelson, clearly a man of amazing resilience, showed what these effects were when he came from behind and beat Woods down the final round of the Tour Championship a few weeks ago. His mind apparently was at peace, with the medical news being as good as could be expected at this point in the cancer treatment. And as a perfect accompaniment, his putting was rejuvenated by some tips from Dave Stockton – put the ball forward, widen your stance, make the forward press, and other bits of fine-tuning. The result was a whole bunch of putts made in Tour Championship. Much like the Mickelson of old. So through his limited season and his time of turmoil and anguish, Mickelson did manage to win three times and return to No. 2 in the world, and given what he’s been through, that might be Player of the Year stuff, Woods’ six wins notwithstanding.
But there’s always something, and this time it’s some kind of creak in his back, something that popped up recently.
“I was getting ready to go practice and it just tightened up,” said Mickelson who limited his practice play here to nine holes a day. “I wasn’t doing anything. It just tightened, and it’s not that it’s an issue. I just wanted to be cautious, because I am looking forward to this week, and there’s a lot of golf left.”
Which made U.S. captain Fred Couples breathe easier. He could name a replacement if Mickelson can’t make the starting gun, but if he does start and then has to quit, International captain Greg Norman then must sit one of his players out.
Not that Mickelson can be graded on his play in this event. For all of his vaunted game, he’s been something of a bust in match play. He was 10-14-6 in the Ryder Cup, and he’s 11-13-9 in the Pres Cup. The thing golf will be watching for is whether the Mickelson who beat Woods is here. Which would mean pretty much that the original Mickelson is here.
Couples is leading off Thursday’s alternate shot (foursomes) with Mickelson and Anthony Kim, a pair of headhunters, against a pair of short hitters, Canadian Mike Weir and South African Tim Clark. And it almost seems that Norman is handing the Americans one.
Weir is only 3-4-1 in alternate shot, and Clark a mere 1-3. Mickelson is 5-6-2 in the Presidents Cup, and Kim, a rookie here, was 0-1-1 in the Ryder Cup last year. So of four guys who don’t seem to be able to play alternate shot, Mickelson and Kim seem to be a little better. They will be two of the more aggressive players on the course. Were they a match made in golf heaven?
“I think the reason I like playing with Anthony,” Mickelson said, “is that he and I look at playing golf similarly. When I was going to lay up on No. 17 today and give him an 80, 100-yard shot, he said, ‘Oh, no, hit the driver, man. Get it down by the green.’ There’s not a shot he fears.”
What happened?
“I hit driver,” Mickelson said. “He knocked it up there 10 feet and we made birdie. Yeah – he’s absolutely right.”
Maybe Anthony Kim wondered which Phil Mickelson he’ll be playing with. Maybe that little episode answered the question.
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