Golf Capsules: Mickelson goes for three in a row

LOS ANGELES — No one is about to change the nickname to Phil’s Place or Lefty’s Lane.

Riviera has been known as "Hogan’s Alley" for more than a half-century after Ben Hogan turned this fabled course along Sunset Boulevard into his personal playground. He won the Los Angeles Open in consecutive years, and won twice in one season in 1948 when he added a U.S. Open victory.

But no one — not Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson or Fred Couples — has ever won at Riviera three straight years. That’s what Phil Mickelson will set out to do when the Northern Trust Open begins Thursday.

"I don’t have a good explanation for it," Mickelson said.

And to think he was only a good chip away from already having won three straight years. Mickelson only needed a par on the 18th hole to win at Riviera in 2007 until he hit a chip that came out flat and missed an 18-foot putt. Charles Howell beat him in a playoff.

Mickelson won the next two years, comfortably in 2008 and with a strong finish last year to beat Steve Stricker.

Strangely enough, Mickelson used to avoid this place earlier in his career because he wasn’t getting very good results. Now, he can’t wait to get to Riviera.

The only question is what kind of game he brings.

Mickelson, who ended last year with victories in the Tour Championship and HSBC Champions in Shanghai, couldn’t wait to get started this year. Perhaps he was too excited. He felt nerves of anticipation, lost some of his timing and never seriously threatened at Torrey Pines, where he finished 19th.

He had talked about his driving going from a liability to a weapon, then walked to the tee for his pro-am and hit his tee shot on the next fairway, offering a sheepish grin. His tee shots never improved during the week, and one got stuck in a tree.

As he played the pro-am late Wednesday afternoon at Riviera, Mickelson offered one reason.

After the tournament, he pulled the head of his driver off the shaft and noticed the inside of the shaft had been cracked so badly that it was about five swings away from shattering.

Then again, after sharing that story and how he has it fixed, he sent a tee shot on the third hole into the left rough.

Even so, Mickelson is excited to get started this week, hopeful that the focus returns to his golf.

The world’s No. 2 player was in the news quite a bit last week, not over his driver but his wedge. He was among five players who have used the Ping Eye2 wedge with square grooves — which don’t conform to the new rules but are approved to play because of a settlement from two decades ago.

That prompted Scott McCarron to say it was "cheating," and Mickelson fired back by saying he had been "publicly slandered." Mickelson might have put the controversy to rest — at least for now — by saying he had made his point against the USGA and accepted an apology from McCarron.

The next challenge comes from Riviera, which is in pristine condition, and from the strongest field on the PGA Tour so far this year.

Stricker, who finished one shot behind last year, is back for another try, while among those making their season debut are Padraig Harrington and Anthony Kim.

The Irishman was not much of a threat last year at Riviera, or hardly any tournament. He spent the better half of the year trying to find the secret to his mechanics at impact and he wasn’t satisfied until July. By then, he was so far behind that he wound up not winning a tournament anywhere in the world.

Always tinkering, Harrington spent his offseason making more adjustments. Only now, there’s a big difference.

"Last year I came out at this stage and I wasn’t happy with the changes and what they resulted in, and I kept working on it," Harrington said. "This year, I’m not in that mindset. I’m happy with what I’ve done, and I’m going to just play with that. It’s finished at the moment, and I’m ready to go play golf, which is what I didn’t do last year."

The field isn’t quite as strong as a year ago, mainly because of the date change. For years, the Northern Trust Open was the final event of the West Coast Swing before the Match Play Championship, and it attracted several European tour members who wanted to get acclimated to the time change before Match Play.

Partly because of the Winter Olympics, Riviera is being played two weeks before Match Play, so it is missing players such as Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy.

The newest face this year is the tournament director — Los Angeles Lakers great Jerry West, an icon in LA who agreed to run the tournament with hopes of boosting its charity dollars.

One other change: It is being televised by NBC Sports, because CBS Sports will show the Match Play during the Olympics. NBC executive producer Tommy Roy has erected a tower left of the 10th fairway to capture tee shots on what many consider to be the best short par 4 in golf.

Mickelson can only hope one thing stays the same: His name on the trophy.

Mickelson accepts apology, won’t use wedge

LOS ANGELES — Phil Mickelson won’t be using the Ping Eye2 wedge that led a fellow player to accuse him of "cheating," even though he hopes others will use the controversial club to keep attention on what he calls a ridiculous rule.

"I won’t be playing that wedge. My point has been made," Mickelson said Wednesday on the eve of his two-time title defense at Riviera. "But if these governing bodies cannot get together to fix this loophole, if players stop using this wedge — which would stop the pressure of the issue — then I will relook at it and put the wedge back in play."

The Ping wedge has grooves that no longer conform under a new USGA regulation, adopted by the PGA Tour. However, any Ping wedge made before April 1, 1990, is approved for play under a legal settlement from two decades ago.

Mickelson is among five players who have used the Ping wedge in competition this year.

Several players believe using the club goes against the spirit of the new grooves regulation, although Scott McCarron fueled the debate when he said of Mickelson and others, "It’s cheating."

Mickelson hinted at legal action after saying he was "publicly slandered." He said McCarron offered him a sincere apology on Tuesday night, which he accepted.

"We all make mistakes, and we all say things we wish we could take back," Mickelson said. "I’ve done it a bunch in my career. And the fact that it’s also not easy to come up and face that person, look them in the eye and apologize ... I appreciate him being a big enough man to do that."

Instead, Mickelson vented his anger at the USGA and its lack of transparency in developing the new rules for grooves. He has complained that his submitted wedges that fit the guidelines, only for the USGA to reject the club for violating the intent of the new rule.

"I’ve very upset with the way the rule came about, the way one man essentially can approve or not approve a golf club based on his own personal decision, regardless of what the rule says," Mickelson said. "This has got to change."

The next step remains murky.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem met with players on Tuesday night and conceded that tour officials did not realize a Ping wedge from 20 years ago would become such a big issue.

Finchem said the Ping Eye2 wedge produces spin at about 60 percent of the rate from last year’s wedges, but about 10 percent more than wedges approved for competition this year.

"The assumption was made last year that very few, if any, players would use that club because they’re 20 years old," Finchem said. "I think we underestimated that a little bit."

He said the tour could either do nothing and monitor how many players used wedges, an option that seemed unlikely because Finchem said it still raised issues over fairness in competition. Some players are going to eBay to find the clubs, as Ping stopped making them and now only can confirm through serial numbers when the wedges were made.

The other option is to work out an agreement with Ping chairman and CEO John Solheim. He said Solheim was to meet with the USGA over the next few weeks, and "I can only hope progress is made in that regard."

Ping plays the biggest role in any solution because of its lawsuits against the USGA and PGA Tour over square grooves.

Finchem said the third option involved a complicated process in which the tour’s independent committee on equipment tries to establish a local rule. He called that a "cumbersome process."

Any solution could be weeks, if not months, away.

In the meantime, Mickelson said he would not use the wedge at the Northern Trust Open, even though he’s hopeful others will.

"If there’s no pressure among these organizations to make changes, I will immediately put the club back in play," Mickelson said.

-- Doug Ferguson

Watson: Woods needs to show humility upon return

DUBAI, United Arab — Tom Watson says Tiger Woods needs to "show some humility to the public" when he returns to golf after sorting out his personal life.

Watson also said Wednesday that Woods should clean up his on-course behavior in order to be considered among the true greats of the game.

Woods is on an indefinite break since his car crash Nov. 27 that fueled sordid tales of extramarital affairs.

"I’ll let the cat out of the bag," Watson said ahead of the Dubai Desert Classic. "Tiger has to take ownership of what he has done. He must get his personal life in order. I think that’s what he’s trying to do. And when he comes back, he has to show some humility to the public.

"I would come out and I would do an interview with somebody and say, ‘You know what? I screwed up. And I admit it. I am going to try to change. I am trying to change. I want my wife and family back."’

The 60-year-old Watson, one of golf’s elder statesmen, also criticized Woods — a 14-time major winner — for bad language and other on-course behavior.

"I feel that he has not carried the same stature that other great players that have come along like Jack (Nicklaus), Arnold (Palmer), Byron Nelson, the Hogans, in the sense that there was language and club throwing on the golf course," Watson said. "You can grant that of a young person that has not been out here for a while. But I think he needs to clean up his act and show the respect for the game that other people before him have shown."

Despite beginning his year with victories in Hawaii in the Champions Skins and the senior’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship, Watson played down his chances of winning the Desert Classic on the European Tour.

After playing in the pro-am, Watson said he was impressed with the condition of the Emirates course but had trouble keeping his drives on the narrow fairways.

"The rough is very tough," he said. "It is very tough to get the ball on the green from the rough. You have probably only got a one-in-seven or one-in-eight chance to get the green if you drive into the rough."

The field also includes England’s Lee Westwood and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who will be among the favorites for Sunday’s $416,600 prize.

-- Graham Otway

Asian Tour tees off amid challenges

BANGKOK, Thailand — The Asian Tour begins its season Thursday with organizers still piecing together a schedule in the face of financial turmoil and the challenge of a rival tour.

As the global economy plateaus rather than improves, Asian Tour organizers have been dealing with the loss of two of its richest events — the Indian Masters and season-ending Volvo Masters.

A new event, the Avantha Masters, will be played in New Delhi beginning Feb. 11 with a purse of $2.1 million. The tour calendar also has a slot for The Tour Championship in December, though a venue has yet to be set.

However, replacements for the lost events has been offset by doubt over the future of the Indonesian Open, another major tournament with a purse of more than $1 million.

Tour organizers have been in touch with the promoter Global One — which had talked of a switch from its February dates — but there were no firm plans in place for a 2010 tournament, and questions remained over if and when it would proceed.

In all, there were seven slots on the calendar carrying the letters TBA: four in the period from late March to late May, and another three at the end of the season.

One event that is back on the schedule is the Myanmar Open, with the Asian Tour returning to the military-ruled state after a four-year absence. It will be held April 8-11 — the same dates as The Masters.

The Asian Tour is also facing competition from the rival OneAsia golf series, which has expanded in 2010. OneAsia was formed with the idea of drawing together the four major stand-alone golf tours in the Asia-Pacific: Australasia, Japan, South Korea and China.

While there is still no Japan involvement on its calendar, OneAsia is pushing ahead with tournaments in the three other countries for 2010, with ten scheduled tournaments this year each with a purse of at least $1 million.

Faced with economic challenges and an upstart series, the Asian Tour has put together an in-house television production team and struck TV deals in Britain, Scandanavia and Australia in an effort to boost the profile of its events and players, plus providing value for sponsors.

The visibility of Asian players received a boost last year when South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun won the PGA Championship.

"Many of our players are world-class and Yang Yong-eun’s breakthrough last year when he became Asia’s first major champion will only open the floodgates for more Asian players to triumph in major championships," Asian Tour executive chairman Kyi Hla Han said.

The first tournament of the new season, the Asian Tour International at Thailand’s Suwan Golf and Country Club, begins Thursday.

Defending champion James Kamte of South Africa has arrived, but his clubs have not.

"I’ve been trying to chase the airport and I phoned the Asian Tour office and asked for some clubs," Kamte said. "If I have to use them the whole week, I’ll use them. If my clubs arrive, it’ll be a bonus."

Thai favorite Thaworn Wiratchant will be among the contenders at Suwan, along with Japan’s Daisuke Maryama and Azuma Yano, India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar, Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing and Australia’s Marcus Both.

-- Chris Lines

Goydos makes first team — as an assistant

LOS ANGELES — U.S. captain Corey Pavin announced four assistants for the Ryder Cup on Wednesday, including two players who have never competed in the matches against Europe.

Pavin said he had selected Tom Lehman, Davis Love III, Jeff Sluman and Paul Goydos.

About the only assistant not considered a surprise was Lehman, one of Pavin’s closest friends. Lehman was the Ryder Cup captain in Ireland in 2006 and chose Pavin as one of his assistants.

The big surprise was Goydos, although the announcement brought a thumbs-up from Phil Mickelson.

"That’ll be cool," Mickelson said.

Goydos said his only Ryder Cup experience has been watching on TV. Even so, he is among the most popular PGA Tour players in the locker room because of his dry wit and honest opinions.

"It came down to me and Brett Favre," Goydos said.

That was in response to one question about Michael Jordan, whom Fred Couples brought along at the Presidents Cup in September. Even as Pavin pointed out that Goydos had no Ryder Cup experience, Goydos chimed in, "I have as much as Michael Jordan."

Pavin thought the lack of experience would be an advantage.

"He is unconventional, thinks outside the box, and is an excellent judge of character and talent," Pavin said.

The Ryder Cup will be Oct. 1-3 in Wales. The United States is the defending champion after beating Europe at Valhalla in 2008.

Sluman is a former PGA champion who never made a Ryder Cup team, but has plenty of experience. He was the assistant to Jack Nicklaus three straight years in the Presidents Cup and had a heavy influence in most decisions.

Love was somewhat of a surprise because at 45, the 20-time PGA Tour winner still hopes to make the team for the first time since 2004. He is expected to be a Ryder Cup captain, perhaps as early as 2012 in Medinah.

"Corey asked me a couple of months ago to consider it, and I said, ‘I’ll consider trying to make the team,"’ Love said. "The more we thought about it and talked about it, it’s the best of both worlds. I get to try to make the team, and if I don’t make the team, I still get to go. I think it’s an honor for me to be in this group."

European captain Colin Montgomerie has yet to announce his assistant captains.

-- Doug Ferguson