The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Mickelson back in limelight

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Wednesday, Feb 14, 2007
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Mickelson back in limelight

PEBBLE BEACH: For all the fuss over Tiger Woods taking another week off, perhaps the Nissan Open should consider this possibility: It still might have the hottest player in golf at Riviera.

True, one victory by Phil Mickelson still leaves him six short of the U.S. PGA Tour winning streak Woods is riding.

And despite a five-shot victory at Pebble Beach, some perspective is in order.

Mickelson usually wins at least once before leaving his U.S. West Coast home, and this was the 11th time in 15 seasons that he won before the tour reached Florida. Plus, the only serious competition he faced on Sunday came from Kevin Sutherland and rookie John Mallinger, whose world rankings last week were Nos. 256 and 454 respectively.

But there was something about Mickelson's game that indicated he was ready to step back into the ring.

In years past when his game has slipped a notch, Mickelson has devoted time to scoring shots — specifically, 150 yards and in — and sharpening his putting stroke by staying on the practice green until he made 100 straight putts from 3 feet.

But after the debacle at the U.S. Open — not just the double bogey on the 18th hole, but hitting only two-fairway in the final round — he was consumed by becoming a better driver off the tee.

Mickelson hit 81 per cent of his fairways in two rounds at Pebble Beach and one each at Poppy Hills and Spyglass. U.S. PGA Tour statistics show him missing only one fairway in his final round of 66, although he said he also missed the fairway at No. 9 by a foot.

Accuracy

``I will never lead the stat in driving accuracy. Let's not overdo this,'' Mickelson said. ``But if I could improve 20 or 25 percent in my accuracy, that's going to make a big difference in my scores.''

Mickelson has not played Riviera since 2001, and he hasn't played it very well. The classic design off Sunset Boulevard has tight fairways, not necessarily of the U.S. Open variety, but tight to have an optimum angle into the green. Lefty has been there eight times, never finished in the top 10 and went home four times before the weekend. But he was so excited about his game that he said after Thursday's round of 65 at Poppy Hills that he might add this week's Nissan Open to his schedule, and by Friday at Pebble Beach, it was a done deal. — AP

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