The Week: A Smashing Return

Phil Mickelson made up for lost time with a win at the Hope

By Alan Shipnuck

Though No. 2 in the World Ranking, Mickelson leads Woods in wins in 2002.   Darren Carroll TRUST ME Ty Tryon will wait longer for his first pro victory than the most recent 17-year-old phenom, Justin Rose, who won last week after 3 1/2 years of toil as a pro. Rose, a Brit, was a more accomplished amateur and in Europe faced thinner fields. NEXT UP PGA: Phoenix Open Senior: Senior Skins Game European: Johnnie Walker Classic INSTANT POLL Will you play a hot driver knowing that it will later be deemed nonconforming? Yes No View Results

Phil Mickelson makes news even in absentia, and when he does show up on Tour he tends to produce bold-faced headlines. If Tiger Woods is this generation's Nicklaus -- an automaton of unequaled proficiency -- Mickelson has become a latter-day Palmer, a hot-blooded and unpredictable performer whose defeats are as memorable as his victories. Mickelson's play teeters between the spectacular and the maddening, often on the same hole, and last week's victory at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic was a vintage performance.

Mickelson, resurfacing after a five-month layoff, opened with an auspicious 64. He shot the same number on Sunday to force a playoff, with David Berganio Jr., which Mickelson won by nearly holing a wedge shot on the first extra hole. This followed an outrageous flop shot on the final hole of regulation that can be described only as Mickelsonian. It was an important finishing kick, erasing some of the doubt from a 2001 season during which Mickelson dramatically raised the level of his game but too often stumbled on Sunday. "This is a year that I've been very much looking forward to," he said Sunday evening. "I feel as if my game has slowly evolved to get where it is today."

This makeover -- toward a shorter, tighter swing and more precise wedge game -- began in the wake of the 1999 U.S. Open, a near miss that heralded Mickelson as a consistent contender at the majors: He has top 10s in seven of the last 12, though he has famously never won. Even so, Mickelson remains golf's most potent week-in-and-week-out force. In 2001 he led the Tour in eagles (20) and in birdies per round (4.49), and at the Hope blasted his way to 35 birdies in 90 holes. Mickelson's brand of smash-mouth forces comparisons to a freewheeling lefthander from another sport. "He's like Randy Johnson," says Steve Loy, Mickelson's agent. "Phil rolls up birdies the way Johnson does strikeouts. When he's good, he's overpowering, but when he's bad, anything can happen."

On Sunday, Mickelson uncorked a couple of loose shots that could've been fatal. On the 18th hole, a 532-yard par-5 at PGA West in La Quinta, Calif., he flared a four-iron that came to rest only a pace from the water's edge. On the same hole in sudden death, he yanked his drive into a bunker, momentarily ceding the advantage to Berganio. Mickelson overcomes these lapses in technique with fearlessness -- he's 5-1 in playoffs, not to mention 3-0 in Ryder Cup singles.

The victory was the 20th of Mickelson's career; Woods (29 wins) is the only other player under 50 to have reached the big two-oh, which is typical. No matter what Mickelson does, he always seems to be trailing Woods. However, the gap is narrowing. Last year Lefty reduced Woods's lead in the World Ranking by more than 60%, and made a huge dent in the money list deficit (from $4.4 million to $1.3 million). Woods may be the best player in golf, but it's worth noting that in 2001 Mickelson was No. 1 in the all-around stat, and this didn't include bonus points for being a good guy. Long after the final putt dropped on Sunday, Mickelson spent a half-hour signing more autographs than Woods will proffer in a season. Mickelson is also the Tour's most high-profile family man. Part of the reason for his extended off-season was the case of colic his 12-week-old daughter, Sophia, has been suffering. "I was able to help out a lot," says Mr. Mom.

From the Hope the Mickelsons left for Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., to spend the first night in their new house. "We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll be able to turn on the lights," the missus, Amy, said on Sunday evening.

Not to worry. When Phil Mickelson is around, there's never an absence of electricity.

O.B.

Think Tiger Woods already is omnipresent? Just wait. "Our goal is to make Tiger as much a part of bar culture as a jukebox and a pool table," says Bob Cooney, VP of business development for Global VR, a San Jose-based manufacturer of coin-operated arcade games that this spring will introduce a barroom spinoff of the popular PC-based video game EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour. A long overdue competitor to the ubiquitous Golden Tee Golf -- which has made a watering hole hero out of Peter Jacobsen , of all people -- Tiger Woods features a trackball interface, which allows players to fade or draw shots, and brings an element of power to the game. Woods's four-year deal with Global VR is a paltry (for him) $750,000 per, but the eponymous protagonist will, according to Cooney, enjoy profit participation. As many as 100,000 machines could be distributed, all with built-in modems allowing sodden enthusiasts to be linked in an on-line tournament. Cooney estimates that as many as five million players could compete for a $1 million purse, at $5 apiece, which is where Woods would cash in. ...

Last week at the Hope, Kirk Triplett 's name was misspelled TRIPRETT on the back of his golf bag. "I'm sure the guy stitching it got a phone call in the middle of the job," Triplett says. ...

Miami attorney Jack Thompson is organizing a boycott of the Golf Channel in protest of its removal of popular on-air talent Peter Kessler . Thompson -- who was named Arts Co-Censor of the Year in 1992 by the ACLU for his work in getting rapper Ice-T's controversial song Cop Killer pulled from record stores -- claims he has had no contact with Kessler and is merely an outraged viewer pining for his favorite host. "I'd like Peter to get his chair back," says Thompson, who can be reached at jackthompson@mediaone.net, "or, at the very least, hit the Golf Channel upside the head for treating him like crap." It's a mad, mad world. ...

Actor Joe Pesci on playing in the same group at the Hope with 'NSync heartthrob Justin Timberlake : "Some parents offered me up to $200 to get an autograph for their kid," Pesci said on Saturday. "They haven't come up with the right number yet, but if they do, they'll get it."

Issue date: January 28, 2002