Mickelson wants it all this weekend
If Phil Mickelson was six shots back with two days of play left in a regular PGA tournament, you’d still be worried about your lead. But he’s only one back and this is anything but a regular tournament for Mickelson. This is his chance to put the dagger in his nemesis, Tiger Woods.
Mickelson has never been the world’s number one player, but he has the chance to take over the number one spot from Woods even if he doesn’t win the tournament. Such is the state of Woods’ game right now that no one is talking of a comeback from him, and assuming he continues playing as he has since his return at The Masters, Mickelson only has to finish in the top four at the Bridgestone Invitational World Golf Championship event at Firestone Country Club.
And, boy, would he love that. “Obviously, it would be cool,” he said after shooting a 68 on Friday. “I’m not going to say it wouldn’t. It would be something I would love to do. And I know I’ve got a great opportunity this week. I know that I’m playing well and this is my best opportunity. But I’m trying not to think about it.”
It’s not Mickelson’s first shot at it. The past several tournaments, three Majors included, Mickelson has known, win this tournament and you have a chance to take the number one position in world golf from the man who has held it for five years. Lefty is not exactly known for his clinical approach to closing, which explains why he hasn’t hit his goal, and might explain his collapse over the two coming days. Mickelson plays with his heart on his sleeve, which means he may take driver over the trees when the smart play is a one-iron into the middle of the fairway.
But I doubt he falls apart this weekend. He knows he’s as close as he will ever get to overtaking Woods, a man with whom he has clashed personally as well as professionally during their careers. In a nutshell, they don’t like each other. At all.
Friday Mickelson had a typical mixed-bag round of five birdies, a bogey and a double-bogey, made up of spectacular shots, mediocre shots, and bad ones. Smack in the middle of all that was a stretch of seven holes that he parred. “It was a little bit more interesting, the last five holes, than the stretch of pars there in the middle of the round,” he said. “I think that gentleman (at 17) learned the hazards of following me and walking down the landing area. I think that he might want to stay more by the tee next time.”
On 17, Mickelson pulled a drive and hit “that gentleman” in the shoulder. This weekend, you can be sure that he intends to hit a gentleman by the name of Tiger, right in the heart.
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