Golf Capsules: Mickelson-Woods rivalry warming up
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Phil Mickelson had not done much of anything this year until the Masters rolled around, which also happened to be the week Tiger Woods returned to golf.
It probably was just a coincidence. Or maybe not.
Mickelson, perhaps more than any other player in this era, has always relished a chance to compete against Woods. Over the past couple of years, he has played some of his best golf when Woods was in the same leaderboard, sometimes in the same group.
"I think that as I've gotten older, I've come to appreciate all that he has done for the game of golf, and me in particular," Mickelson said. "I've also found that I've needed him to help me get my best golf out. He has pushed me to work harder, and he has pushed me to become a better player. And I get motivated when he's back in the field."
They arrived at the TPC Sawgrass as the No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, with momentum squarely on Mickelson's side.
After winning the Masters for his third green jacket, Mickelson nearly made it two wins in a row until Rory McIlroy stole the show at Quail Hollow with a 62 in the final round, a performance that will be talked about all year. Mickelson had to settle for second place, but it gave Lefty a chance to be No. 1 in the world ranking for the first time in his career.
Mickelson would have to win The Players Championship — he last won in 2007 — and have Woods finish out of the top five.
Those aren't necessarily long odds. Mickelson is playing as well as anyone. Woods is not playing like Woods.
After a tie for fourth in the Masters — remarkable performance after not competing for five months while coping with the fallout from extramarital affairs — Woods never looked worse at Quail Hollow when he shot his second-highest score (79) and missed the cut with his highest 36-hole score (153) in his PGA Tour career.
This is the first time Woods has ever played the week after missing the cut — granted, it was only his sixth missed cut. And he has never missed the cut in consecutive starts in his career. Does he have issues with his confidence?
"No," Woods said.
He tees off Thursday afternoon with Hunter Mahan and Ian Poulter, neither of whom can be accused of confidence issues after big wins in Arizona this year — Mahan in the Phoenix Open, Poulter at the Match Play Championship.
Mickelson goes off Thursday morning in an All-Star group that features Ernie Els (with two victories this year) and Dustin Johnson, the 25-year-old who should be in every conversation when it comes to the best young players in the world. He's certainly among the longest.
That could be one of the top story lines at Sawgrass this week — a change at the top.
The Players Championship already is exciting in its own right with perhaps the most dynamic closing stretch in golf — the par-5 16th that is easily reachable in two, the island-green 17th for a par 3, and a strong par 4 at the end. The other 15 holes are equally compelling, even if no one talks about them enough.
Neither Woods nor Mickelson seem to be thinking about the ranking too much.
Woods has been at the top for the past five years, and while he doesn't like being second — he certainly didn't think much of his tie for fourth at the Masters — it's not like it hasn't happened before.
David Duval overtook Woods in 1999 (at The Players Championship, no less), while Vijay Singh replaced him after winning the Deutsche Bank Championship outside Boston in 2004, the year Singh won nine times.
In both cases, Woods was overhauling his swing, or nearing the end of a swing change. In this case, he is trying to mend his personal life, along with an image that has been shattered in public and in the endorsement arena.
"The whole idea to be No. 1 and to continue to be No. 1, you have to win golf tournaments," Woods said. "And I haven't done that in a while. I haven't played in a while."
Mickelson has never been this close to No. 1.
"It's every player's goal and intent to strive to be recognized as the No. 1 player in the world relative to the rankings," Mickelson said. "It's certainly something that I have been striving for but have not achieved yet. And so it would mean a lot to me. But for me to accomplish that, I can't focus on that. I've got to go out and get ready to play this golf course because it's not an easy challenge.
"And for me to have a chance to achieve No. 1, I've got to win," he said. "So I've got a lot of work ahead."
At the Masters, Mickelson became the first player to win three straight tournaments in which Woods was playing, a streak that dates to the Tour Championship in September and continued in Shanghai in November.
Another win might be bigger than usual for Mickelson. In this case, Woods could use a victory even more.
Notebook: Sutton recalls notable Players victory over Tiger
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Hal Sutton beat Tiger Woods at his very best, a victory at The Players Championship that still resonates 10 years later.
Sutton was at TPC Sawgrass on Wednesday to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his second and more memorable win on the Stadium Course. He recalled his famous "be the right club today" phrase, which he still gets asked about all the time, and weighed in on Woods' recent struggles on and off the course.
Sutton made it clear he believes Woods is better equipped than anyone to overcome his problems and get back to playing the kind of golf that helped him dominate the PGA Tour.
"Tiger's facing the greatest challenge," said Sutton, who also won here in 1983. "Tiger meets every challenge with his head held high and knowing that he will overcome. He's had better control of his mind than almost any player I've ever watched play the game.
"It's very difficult and distracting to be able to take out of your mind things that are very important to you and do what he's got to do right now. I think he's facing his greatest challenge. I think he's probably got more equipment to do this with than anybody else."
Woods, playing in his second tournament since rampant extramarital affairs shattered his image, missed the cut at Quail Hollow by eight last week. He shot a 79 in the second round, the second-highest score in his 14 years on Tour. He has never missed consecutive cuts.
Sutton expects Woods to find a way to balance the selfishness needed to play well at this level and the humility needed to get his personal life straightened out.
"I'm sure Tiger will figure that out," he said. "He's figured everything else out."
Woods didn't figure out a way to beat Sutton in 2000. He needed a birdie on No. 18 for a chance at a playoff, but hit his approach into a swale near the green and chipped up for par.
Sutton hit next and knew the shot was good.
"Be the right club today," he said as the ball took aim at the flag. It landed about 8 feet in front of the hole.
"The phrase ... was just a moment of passion," said Sutton, who once counted 36 times that he was asked about it one day. "It was never practiced or anything else. It was just what came out of my mouth when I saw it in the air."
MILLER BASHING: As usual, NBC Sports analyst Johnny Miller had some advice for Tiger Woods: Ditch the driver for The Players Championship, then ditch swing coach Hank Haney.
Miller said the Stadium Course doesn't require power off the tee, which is why past champions Woods and Phil Mickelson have had to "throttle way down with their games."
"If I were caddying for Tiger on the first tee, I'd probably break the driver and just say, 'Let's go play,'" Miller said. "Phil when he won was really throttling down with that baby cut and playing very conservative."
Then came the dig at Haney.
"This might be a little harsh, but I really believe he needs to — every night — watch the U.S. Open in the year 2000 in Pebble and just copy that swing and forget the Haney stuff," Miller said. "That was the best golf anybody has ever played in history."
Woods, who was working with Butch Harmon at the time, won by a record 15 shots at Pebble Beach, where the U.S. Open returns next month.
SHUTTER TROUBLE: Tiger Woods isn't the only player who has to deal with cameras.
Hunter Mahan stood over his tee shot on the 16th hole Wednesday morning when a fan with a professional camera — cameras are allowed during practice rounds — fired the shutter in the middle of his swing.
"Did you get that?" Mahan's caddie, John Wood, said to the man.
"Do you prefer me not to do that?" the man responded.
"No, it's perfect," Mahan said sarcastically.
Apparently, the sarcasm was lost on the man, for when Woods stepped to the tee, he was at the top of the swing when the man took more pictures. Woods stopped and started laughing, along with the rest of the group.
"Thanks, Wood," he said to Mahan's caddie.
EXTRA PRACTICE: Ian Poulter played the Stadium Course hundreds of times before he ever walked it in person. Poulter said Wednesday he learned the layout by playing PlayStation.
"The island green, I've probably played more rounds of it on PlayStation as a kid than I ever have now," he said. "I don't play anymore, but I'm just saying as a kid, I mean, hours in a pro shop."
He believes video games helped him learn the course faster than he would have normally. However, he's more familiar with the back nine than the front.
"When you set it up, you always set it up to play the back nine, I guess, with the island green," he said.
How did he fare on No. 17, the famed island green?
"I've made birdie there all the time on the computer," he said.
-- Mark Long
PGA European
Manassero pro debut may be delayed by soggy course
TURIN, Italy — The eagerly anticipated professional debut of Italian 17-year-old Matteo Manassero on Thursday may be delayed.
Five consecutive days of unseasonal heavy rain have waterlogged Royal Park Roveri, creating serious concern that the first round of the Italian Open will have to be postponed for 24 hours and the tournament reduced to 54 holes.
Manassero is scheduled to play with Colin Montgomerie and Rhys Davies, the young Welsh winner of the recent Madeira Islands Open.
It gives Montgomerie, Europe's Ryder Cup captain, an opportunity to cast an eye on more youth potential beyond Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who won on the PGA Tour last weekend.
Montgomerie has always believed he would have four rookies on his Ryder Cup team, possibly Martin Kaymer of Germany, Alvaro Quiros of Spain, Ross Fisher of England and McIlroy.
But the emergence of Davies, who is 10th on the European money list, and the potential of Manassero, who dazzled at the Masters, could see that number increased — especially while veterans like Sergio Garcia and Darren Clarke struggle.
"To make the team the youngsters are going to have to be damned good," said Montgomerie, as he sheltered from the rain in Turin. "But these youngsters are good, and if they start winning the big tournaments coming up in Europe then they will deserve to be on the team."
He knows Manassero has an amateur pedigree worthy of launching a pro career in spectacular fashion at the end of golf's "youth week," in which Ryo Ishikawa shot 58 in Japan and McIlroy won his first tournament in the United States.
"He is only a couple of weeks older than our youngest ever member of the tour, who was Seve Ballesteros," Montgomerie said. "And it's amazing to have seen him already perform at the level to win the (British) Amateur Championship, take the silver medal at the (British) Open and make the cut at the Masters."
However, the one person without high expectations of a dramatic professional debut is Manassero himself.
"I will be nervous when I am on the first tee as I always am, but it won't be any different to amateur tournaments," Manassero said. "I just want to enjoy playing golf and making birdies.
"I am thinking about winning but have no pressure from it. If the chance comes and I take it, it will be a great moment, but I have no rush for that."
Meanwhile, Montgomerie has backed down on his long-held insistence that Ryder Cup contenders should play in three key events on the European Tour this summer.
He wanted the strongest possible fields at this month's BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the Wales Open on the Ryder Cup course in June, and the Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles in August — the last qualifying event to make his team.
However, Ian Poulter has no plans to play the BMW PGA while none of the five Europeans in the world's top 10 have signed to play the Wales Open. McIlroy and Lee Westwood already plan to play in the Memorial on the PGA Tour that week.
"I had asked everyone to play Wales," Montgomerie said. "But it is opposite the Memorial in America which is one of their biggest events. ... As long as the ones who aren't playing Wales compete well in the Memorial I will let them off.
"I can't tell players where to play, only ask. If they want to play over there, fine, as long as they play well. And Europe has had great success in America this year."
Montgomerie pointed to Garcia, Poulter and Paul Casey reaching the finals of the Accenture Matchplay, where Poulter won the final over Casey, and Westwood playing himself into contention for his first major championship at the Masters.
"And McIlroy's performance," Montgomerie added, "to start from four behind and win by four at Quail Hollow was fantastic."
-- Graham Otway
Elsewhere
Adam Scott can relate to latest young hitters
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida — The future of golf never looked stronger than when two young players on different continents won tournaments that had their colleagues raving days later.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot a 62 at the Quail Hollow Championship to break the course record by two shots on the U.S. PGA Tour on Sunday. Hours earlier, Ryo Ishikawa of Japan shot a 58 to break the record of any course on a major tour and win The Crowns on the Japan Tour.
McIlroy turned 21 on Tuesday. Ishikawa, 18, graduated from high school two months ago. And to keep with the timing, Italian teenager Matteo Manassero is making his professional debut this week in the Italian Open. He made the cut at the Masters.
Adam Scott wasn't sure which amazed him more.
"I wouldn't have broken 90 at Augusta when I was 16," he said of Manessero, who turned 17 right after the Masters. "I'm not just saying that as a throwaway line. I mean that. I wasn't anywhere near that level at his age."
Scott wasn't too shabby, however. The Australian turned pro when he was 20 and earned his European Tour card in eight starts. Over the next decade, he reached as high as No. 3 in the world and has won 15 times around the world, one of those The Players Championship when he became its youngest champion in 2004 at age 23.
Scott was born the same year as Sergio Garcia, who reached No. 2 in the world and counts The Players among his 18 wins worldwide.
McIlroy, Ishikawa and perhaps Manassero might be the next crops of kiddies, and Scott sees a trend.
"Every generation learns from the one before," he said. "Tiger won early and Sergio learned from that, and he did it early. I was doing it at a fairly early age. Now you have Rory and Ryo. They've learned from guys like Tiger. Look at Ryo. He's 18 and he's been doing this for three years. He's already played a Presidents Cup. That's hard to get your head around."
That begs the question: Who did Woods learn from?
Scott recalls Woods playing Augusta National as an amateur with Greg Norman, not to mention Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
"I think he learned from the best of his time," Scott said. "He's a special athlete who always had an extra sense. From what I remember hearing from Butch Harmon, Tiger soaked up information from everybody."
-- Doug Ferguson
Couples commits to Principal Charity Classic
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Principal Charity Classic officials say Fred Couples will play in next month's Champions Tour event in West Des Moines.
This will be the first appearance for Couples at the Principal Charity Classic.
The 50-year-old Couples is splitting his time between the Champions and PGA tours. He's won three senior circuit events so far and is currently atop the money and points standings.
Couples finished sixth at the Masters in Augusta, Ga., last month.
The Principal Charity Classic will be held at Glen Oaks Country Club from June 4-6.
