SAN DIEGO -- After 19 PGA Tour seasons, 46 professional victories, four major championships, more than $60 million in career earnings and a public image that can pull more heart stings than Hallmark, Phil Mickelson should be a whole lot easier to figure.
But then he wouldn't be Phil.
Few -- in any -- people in golf have ever done unpredictability bigger and better than Mickelson. Start with the fact that he's a natural right-hander who plays golf lefty.
Over the years, Mickelson has lost events he should have won, and won others in which he probably should not have even been in contention. He has been heroic, steady and good. He has been his own worst enemy. He has been lampooned for talking too much about things he should not and applauded for insight and opinions on important issues inside the game. He has gambled and won, gambled and lost.
Several years ago a national advertising campaign centered around Mickelson asked, "What will Phil do next?" It still lives as the most spot-on overview of the man's professional career.
And that brings us to this week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
What Phil so far has done this week is follow an opening-day 67 with a second-round 69 on Friday, putting him 8 under, three shots back of leader Bill Haas (67-66).
Mickelson, who began play off the 10th tee of the North course, finished with birdies on Nos. 8 and 9.
But the question still persists: what's next?
Mickelson has turned 40. He is coming off a season that had so much early promise but stalled badly. He won his third Masters in April and was poised to take over the world No. 1 ranking he has yet to hold.
But Phil never won again in 2010. Instead, in June, he announced a case of psoriatic arthritis that was making it difficult to walk and swing.
Medication, according to Mickelson, has brought the malady under control, but for how long and how well? Is Phil still a thrill or destined to go downhill?
" I'm hoping to make 2011 what I thought 2010 was going to be."
-- Phil Mickelson Nobody knows. Mickelson, of course, has his opinion.
"I'm hoping to make 2011 what I thought 2010 was going to be," he said at Torrey Pines.
Positive energy should not be the problem. Wife, Amy, waging a so-far successful battle against breast cancer, is on hand this week, walking in her husband's gallery for the first time since the 2009 Masters before she was aware of the disease.
"It sure is fun to see her out here smiling and having fun," he said.
As an extra bonus, Mickelson's mother, Mary -- also diagnosed with breast cancer, just six weeks after Amy -- likewise is at the course and doing well.
"Yeah. I would say the last three, four, five months have been very good," Phil said. "We're in a much better place. We're all excited about 2011."
All the same, we are talking about Phil Mickelson. And, medication or not, there are no known reports of psoriatic arthritis working as a springboard to an athlete's best days.
"I think at the time I wasn't really sure how it was affecting me," Mickelson said. "I didn't really see it from the outside looking in. But now that I've got a treatment program where my symptoms are managed and I'm able to resume my normal activities. I see now how much strength it deteriorated by my inability to lift the same amount of weights or what have you. I think maybe it did, but it's hard to say.
"It really doesn't matter because we're at this point now where I feel like I'm ready for the year. I'm back to where I expect to be performance-wise, and so there's no point really dwelling on it."
The year is early, but so far, so good.
Playing in his hometown, on courses he walked as a kid, and surrounded by friends and family, Mickelson has looked energized and at peace this week.
"What I have felt heading into this year is that I'm 40-years old and I've been playing this game a long time, and I no longer need to go about changes in my game," he said.
"I feel this is a year where I don't have to have any change. It's a year of refinement. Developing touch, developing shot-making and getting into the nuances of hitting great shots and not having to worry about technique, and it's a good feeling."
Figure that.
No comments:
Post a Comment