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On the Course Mickelson shows moxie during Tiger's charge
Posted: Sunday February 13, 2000 07:35 PM
By Chris Lewis, special to CNNSI.com LA JOLLA, Calif. (CNNSI.com) -- In the end, the streak did have a chance to survive through Sunday. But with Tiger Woods having his worst ballstriking day in months, hitting only 6 fairways and 10 greens, the only way he was going to overcome his six-stroke deficit to win this year's Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines was to have someone hand him the tournament. Oddly, that's almost what happened. Phil Mickelson, Sunday's eventual winner, managed only a two-under par 70, collecting a four-shot victory on a day when no one behind him made a serious run at him. Mickelson's biggest scare came of his own hand on the par-3 10th hole, when he left a chip shot in the rough and then two-putted for a double bogey to fall to one over for the day. When Woods, playing one group ahead, birdied the par-3 12th to move into a momentary tie for first, the door seemed wide open for the Tiger's second comeback victory in so many weeks. If anyone seemed likely to back himself out of the winner's circle, it was Mickelson. He had not won a tournament since the 1998 AT&T Pebble Beach National, and had spent most of the last two years Avis-ing himself away from potential PGA Tour wins. Apart from last fall's Ryder Cup, his round Sunday was the first gut check Mickelson has passed in two years. And Tiger was incapable of making the most of the opportunity. Visibly fatigued after an uncharacteristically unspectacular week-during which he nonetheless almost managed to pull out his seventh straight PGA Tour win-Woods called his grinding "very draining." "As good as I was hitting it today," he said, "to even be under par was a little bit of a miracle." "It was a big and important tournament for me for a number of reasons," said Mickelson after his round. "First, because I haven't won out here for a while. And then it's important to know I can go up against the best player in the world and beat him." In the end it may be that Sunday's great opportunity was not for Woods to catch Mickelson and preserve his streak, but for Mickelson to eke out a victory against Woods. And the way Woods is playing -- even when he has to scramble to put up a middling score -- it may be quite a while before Mickelson or anyone else has that kind of opportunity again.
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