Will Phil Mickelson beat Tiger Woods, or will he choke?
In the same pairing as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson was on fire today, after birdieing 5 holes, to go -16 with a 4 stroke lead. Then Phil found water on his approach shot on 11 and double bogeyed the hole, leaving him with only a stroke lead over Aaron Oberhauser. Tiger can't buy a putt today, and is at -11. Still a lot of golf left to play.
Phil even needled Tiger before the round, saying that Butch Harmon (Tiger's former coach and now Phil's coach) told him a few tips about things that Tiger does during play that presumably shows some kind of weakness. You know Butch is loving it.
33 Comments:
He (Tiger) choked!
Phil will beat Tiger.
Phil played solid down the stretch. He should start to gain some confidence after the disaster at Winged Foot last year. Maybe now he can even stop faking that wrist injury.
To put it into perspective how dominant Tiger is, consider this. Even if Phil were to beat Tiger like he did today in 3 more majors, it would only help Tiger's historical legacy. Why? In the end, the only argument Nicklaus supporters will probably have left is that Jack played against better players. If Phil were to end up with 6 or 7 majors and beat Tiger head to head in a couple of them, their argument would be weakened considerable i.e. Phil would become a Tom Watson figure, leaving Trevino as the only other real successful major winner in his prime that Nicklaus had to play against.
I think it would be fantastic for Phil if he ended up being put on a level with Watson. Gonna have to bag at least one of the big Opens, though, preferably both. A Vardon, Hagen, Jones, Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods only come along once a generation.
Now that I think about it, Watson may be beyond Phil already. After all, Watson never blew a major like Phil did at Winged Foot and Watson didn't labor for years under the ""best player to never win a major" label. The best Phil can shoot for is a Snead legacy. Despite 6 majors, Snead's still known as the guy who was king of the Greensboro Open (8 victories), but always finding a new way to lose the big ones. Of course, with only 31 career victories, Phil has a long way to go even in that regard. He's probably just going to break into the top twenty all time.
I'm a huge Tiger fan, but he choked. It was all there for him, on a platter, and he sucked it, hard.
Has he ever had so many 3 putts? Missed so many 6-10 footers? It was sad, really.
Congratulations Phil - What a truly remarkable finish for you and your family. I have been a loyal fan of yours for years because not only re how you play the game but also you remind me of my grandson, Mitchell. You played with the best today and you won. Lyn
Rory is probably talking trash about how at least somebody can beat Tiger! He He - what a baby - rory is probably looking for a job in a restaurant now as a bus boy. He has no chance to win the FedEx cup!!
Whatever it is that Rory and Woody eat, or insert in their mouths, must be catchy! This blogger caught it too! I think he forgot that they play four rounds. Yeah, not the tournament the sponsors imagined, right! When it was all said and done, Mickelson finished first and Tiger tied for second!!! Yeah, the sponsors must be really sorry about this final round too!!!!
Someone needs to take their medication.
So the word on the street is Mickelson may skip the 3rd tournament of the hughly popular fedex cup to "devote time to family" and (ahem) make a point to Finchem about something very mysterious. Sorry my fellow golf fans, the game to these guys has 99.9% to do with personal crudges (if you have tens of millions in the bank, thank you very much fans), or tens of millions to be put in your account (thank you very much Nike, fedex, and numerous other thieving corporations giving face to Finchem and the single-dimentional golfers they serve). We must be hard pressed for entertainment.
hey 8:11, what gives? - you are sucha fool. you must have a dopey look permanently pastered on your goofy faced you headcheese munching, pillow biting, toilet licking little fart sucker. stop posting these stupid comments that no body wishes to read!!!!
A great day for Philly Manboobs and his band of merry gypsies. I'll bet butch is now going to give him free coaching vouchers for today's effort. Goodbye Adam it was nice to know ya - hey Scottie I hear Hank Haney is looking to beam up another A-lister, give him a call - he would love to deconstruct your swing and teach you how to block it to the right.... it's a shot that works for his prize pupil...sometimes...
imagine if phil hadn't triple boegied on saturday.. whar brilliant strategy -- what i love about phil is that he always finds a way to fuck up real bad and then shake it off and come back and trill us to the max. i want him to make a video of all his bloopers -- working title, "philly's mickelflops", you heard it hear first -- i'll order ten!!
hey retard, learn how to spell bogey you dunderheaded girlyman.
Anon. 8:11: Your take is cynical but not without interest. If you can wade through the river of vomit that came after your post, I have a few questions. What do you think the "mysterious" reasons are? Scheduling issues, perhaps? Do you think Phil'll show up in Chicago? And, this is for the field, how much does anyone think the top tier players (the ones in contention) really care about winning the FedEx Cup in its inaugural season? An unexpected bonus is pairing the players according to rank. Today was great theatre, enhanced by Johnny Miller's commentary, of course... And to Anon: 6:49. Why are you dragging your obsession with Rory Sabbatini into this post, or is it just a big put-on?
In all, Woods missed 11 putts from inside 10 feet over the weekend -- four of them from inside 7 feet. He three-putted three times. In the final round, he made just one putt from outside of 13 feet.
Man, that is not the Tiger I know!
12:43 - i think finchem has pissed off the A list players by trying to cater more to the players in the 50 to 100 ranking - the one's on his player committee's you love to kiss his ass - the beamer, tom leahman both come to mind. he's made it possible for one of these journeyman players to get a potential huge paycheck at the expense of the top tier guys who afterall are responsible for making the journeyman millionaires.
i think guys like tiger, ernie, phil and others in the top 25 are going to play less and less on the pga tour and more and more on the global tours in the coming years - afterall they are still going to play in the majors - the one's that count - nice work tim, by catering to the anon's you are driving the rating makers away from your tour. once again, big tim's ego is hurting the tour - when are the lords of the pga tour going to dump this guy?
It will be interested to find out what Phil is upset with Finchem about. I’d like to see someone like Woody Austin or Boo Weekly win the Fed-Ex play off just to show Phil and Tiger that the PGA is not just about them. I have often wondered why Phil and Tiger doesn’t just put their own show on and invite a special guess each week go against him for few million...Oh, heck did I just spoil their agent’s plan?
http://innovativebusinessgolf.com
I think the last two comments hit the nail on the head.
I think Phil will be in Chicago. Finchy will make promises.
I wonder if yesterday will give Tiger motivation for the last two events. You know much of him signed off after S. Hills.
On the Phil - Tim thing - it's all about the mandatory Pro-Am. Phil wants an exclusion to free up his week a bit, Tim said he would consider it, but will not allow it now that the time has come. Lots of friction between the big players and the office - just like every other organization in the world!
"I wonder if yesterday will give Tiger motivation for the last two events. You know much of him signed off after S. Hills."
That's the key point with Tiger. He has different levels of focus. He paces himself so that his game and focus can function at their maximum in the majors. Fedex Cup means something to him, maybe at the Ryder Cup level. I think he is also focussed on a 100 win career, so the regular tournamennts do mean something to him also. The main point, though, if you haven't beaten Tiger in a major, you haven't beaten him when he's trying his hardest.
The main point, though, if you haven't beaten Tiger in a major, you haven't beaten him when he's trying his hardest.
It's funny, I've seen this same comment with regards to the USA basketball team, i.e. they're so talented, they only lose when they aren't trying their hardest. Well, when they didn't win the gold a few years ago, they weren't trying? And with Tiger, you honestly believe that he is beyond other mortals, able to win at any time if only he wills it, and oh, this week he didn't will it?
I like Tiger, but the worship of him is becoming unbearable. He's really, really, really good, he's great, he's easily the greatest player of this generation, arguably the greatest player of all time. But, he's still human, he still is capable of failure, of having a bad day, of not living up to his potential. I'd bet a thousand bucks that Tiger doesn't say to himself after he loses a tournament "oh, well, I guess I just didn't want that one." One thing he's not is half-assed. It shouldn't diminish his legacy at all to say "he tried his hardest and he still got beat."
Phil played great golf and deserved to win. He beat Tiger along the rest of the field. The good thing about Tiger is that he always tried his best even if he is not having a good day. The difference this week was in the short game. Phil played as if he never missed a putt and Tiger played as if he never made one! Also, whether his ball is around the green or on the green is the same for Phil. He is definitely the wedge king. Phil will not play BMW because he wants to enjoy the win longer - had he played BMW and lost to Tiger (Tiger loves Cog Hill) then it would have been back to square one. I hope Phil keeps playing well and challenges Tiger. It will be good for both golf and Tiger. Can't wait to see how the FedEx cup unwind. I wish there was more TV times.
Linus, I think you are misinterpreting our points. Tiger plans his life to peak at the majors, physically, mentally, preparationally, etc. Of course he always wants to win, but there are times when he really puts it all out there. No one, not even Tiger, can have the same level of preparation / dedication / determination / focus all the time.
Our comments weren't Tiger-worship. More to the contrary, actually -- recognizing that he is human, and thus chooses to invest more at some times than others.
PS -- and it doesn't diminish his legacy to say that he tried his hardest and got beat (Masters, Oakmont). But you just *know* that a large section of Tiger checked out after S. Hills. He had already written the summary of the season.
PPS -- it is *amazing* to me just how big a deal people are making that Phil beat Tiger. TheGolfChannel.com had a bit saying some players were happy Tiger got his "comeuppance." WTF?
Anon. 3:30: Does Newton's third law mean anything to you? "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Cuz that explains why when Tiger has an off day, it feels like a comeuppance because when one of Tiger's rivals has an off day, the radical right wing faction of the Tiger Fan Club pounce on whoever it was and mercilessly slag them off and rip them to shreds. The so-called comeuppance is the "reaction" to those assholes who love the taste of blood on their lips, week in, week out. But now it's someone else's turn. It's not hard to indulge the urge to go "na na na na na..."
I see Phil is skipping Chicago. Longer to bask in beating Tiger.
4:51pm -- I think of "comeuppance" in terms of getting back at. Someone takes a verbal shot at someone, and person B turns around and smacks them. As in: if Tiger had said Phil was making a mistake working with Butch, then yesterday would have been Tiger's comeuppance. But I don't see the parallels with Tiger getting beat yesterday -- I don't see him talking smack against Lefty.
6:28: for the record, I was making an interpretation of what the un-named players meant by "comeuppance", reported by the Golf Channel according to 3:30 Anonymous. That's why I said, "feels like..."
Whatever. Has Phil made it official that he's not playing Chicago? How much do you think the top players care about winning the Fed Ex Cup?
i think you guys are a bunch of fruit cakes with way too much time on your hands. get back to work and stop trying to analyze this stuff. do your wives know that you are doing this instead of either working or working on your "honey-do" lists?
Hey, Anon. 8:29. What decade are you in? For the record, I check out this site when I'm jacked on crank. And I don't have to get back to work because I don't have to work. Also, not all of us have wives, although some of us do have fuck buddies and/or girlfriends and/or the occasional lap dancer who we don't have to get around in order to have spare time. Or account for it. And what are you doing on this site, besides acting out your holier-than-thou complex? It's not like anyone stumbles onto thegolfblog.com on their way to wikipedia or wherever it is you go that's worthy of your time. And, by definition, the point of this blog (or any blog) is that it's a meeting place for people who get off on analyzing golf (or whatever) and everything about it in all it's minutest glory. So piss off, killjoy downer man, and worry about your own clock. And your own wife.
I apologize if I misinterpreted. I have just heard a lot of the Tiger-worshippers say the same thing: "Oh, if he got beat, it means he didn't really care about your piddly-ass tournament (since it's not a major) so he wasn't trying as hard..." Like someone said, there's no shame in trying your best and getting beat.
But you just *know* that a large section of Tiger checked out after S. Hills. He had already written the summary of the season.
See, I don't know what this means. What part of Tiger "checked out"? He showed up didn't he? He played, didn't he? He played pretty dang well, good enough for 2nd place, didn't he? Yeah, he didn't putt so well (I think Phil had an 8 putt final round advantage). So? How is that evidence that it was because of a lack of effort or the ever-mystical "focus"?
Part of my frustration with that theme comes from my general distaste for the mystical side of sports. Hustle, grit, "learning how to win", etc. I'm not saying that golf doesn't have a huge mental component, but let's at least describe it in concrete terms. For example, most people who are paired with Tiger in a final round, with a chance to win, play terribly. I think it's because they are scared and tentative, and their muscles (which do the swinging of the club) act accordingly. Phil (however he did it) overcame that on Monday. It's nothing more mysterious than that. But let's not insult both Tiger and Phil and say it's because Tiger doesn't care all that much about winning this particular tournament.
Speaking of insulting Phil, what is with the manboobs thing? It's not only a 5th grade insult, it always sounds like sour grapes from someone who doesn't like him. "Phil is phony and says weird things and I don't like him. Oh, and MANBOOBS!!!! Hah, hah, hah..." It's creepy.
Speaking of creepy, hats off to the guy who took time out of his busy day to leave an anonymous comment on a golf blog, criticizing others for taking time out of their busy days to leave comments on a golf blog. My irony meter just exploded.
from anon's wife:
get a life! all of you... and for the record, i new the "club caddy" would win.
ps - do your honey-do's... now!!!!!
This whole thread should be deleted. From the opening comments with the author hoping for a Phil collapse and provide his hero a victory to the comments.
All garbage.
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