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Phil Mickelson implosion at U.S. Open wins at least one new convert

Monday June 19, 2006 | 08:58:58 263 words, 2468 views
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Here I was all set to blast Phil Mickelson for his monumental collapse at the U.S. Open. He’s a big target, and an easy one.

But, I can’t bring myself to do it. It isn’t sympathy, although god knows he is certainly deserving of that.

I was surprised to feel a little admiration creeping in, for a guy I’ve never really liked. Mickelson lives by the sword and just as frequently gets impaled on it. Beneath that pudgy, benign exterior beats the heart of a riverboat gambler. Sure, he could have played it conservative at No. 18, slapping it out of the rough onto the fairway and playing for a bogey and a playoff.

What does he do? He goes for it. Tries to shape a 3-iron 200 yards over those forbidding trees and onto or near the green, so he can par the hole and win outright.

We all know by now he failed, the ball coming to rest not 40 yards from where he originally hit it, ending up with double bogey. But, damned if I don’t admire the way he played for the win. It’s just in his nature, his makeup, to go for it.

Also, it provided a lot of drama for an event which lacked it, not because of someone running away with the tournament. With Tiger Woods out of the mix, nobody, it seemed, wanted to win. Or, you could say, everybody else choked. Except Geoff Ogilvy, who won by attrition.

Phil Mickelson, with his excruciating loss on one of golf’s biggest stages, has won at least one convert.

Comments:

Comment from: jaypee [Visitor]
I have to disagree with you on this one. Going for the win would have been to hit a low iron around the trees, hit a good approach and give himself a putt to win. It's to easy and it's been said too often..."at least he had the guts to go for the win...". It was "going for a big chance to lose it".
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 12:02
Comment from: Tim McDonald [Member] Email
He didn't have the option of hitting a low iron around the trees, unless he wanted to punch out on to the fairway. That would have left him with a long approach, and getting there in two would have been nearly impossible.

Boy ain't playing for no ties, boy playing to win.
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 12:33
Comment from: One-Putt [Visitor]
Phil simply made the decisions of a sixteen year old on the final hole.

At least he matured some.

Permalink 06/19/06 @ 14:14
Comment from: Ron Mon [Member] Email
"Boy ain't playing for no ties, boy playing to win." Who talks like this, AI's posse? Are you in AI's posse?

I agree that sympathy is there, but only for the way he handled himself after. Unlike Bill Clinton, who "did not have sex with that woman," Phil admitted what the world's non-soccer sports fans already knew: that he is an idiot. As are we all.

He tried to hit a 3 iron over those trees? That was crazier than Bay Hill, crazier than anything he's ever done before. That's a new level of crazy.
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 14:32
Comment from: Tim McDonald [Member] Email
Ron-Mon: Spoken, or written, like the true nerd you appear to be.

You appear unable to understand or appreciate the vernacular.

Nor do you appear to understand or appreciate a true gambler's instincts.

Sit back and smirk your little smirk, and let the men take the bold risks.

Permalink 06/19/06 @ 14:58
Comment from: Scott Walker [Visitor] · http://www.digitalgolf.tv/community/
I just don't think that Phil can help himself. I have always said from covering Tiger, Barry Bonds, and other for ESPN that great athletes think differently than the rest of us. I think Phil thinks differently than other great athletes.

You can take a humorous exploration of that thought process Inside The Mind Of Phil Mickelson.

Cheers!
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 16:06
Comment from: Jim COULTHARD [Visitor]
TIM

You had better watch it. You are on a slippery slope. Today you are saying nice things about Phil Mickelson, in two weeks you may be saying nice things about Michelle Wie.
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 17:47
Comment from: brad [Visitor]
Hey Tim, what would have you said if Michelle Wie would have done this on the 72nd hole?
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 19:34
Comment from: Tim McDonald [Member] Email
Jim, I've already said a bunch of nice things about Michelle Wie.

Brad, she doesn't have the history of Mickelson. There's no comparison there.
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 20:51
Comment from: Ron Mon [Member] Email
sticks and stones, tiny tim, sticks and stones. What from my comments makes you want to judge manhood from little pictures? I hope the hemrhoids swell down a bit, and that your pain decreases, too.
Permalink 06/19/06 @ 21:58
Comment from: Ann [Visitor]
I agree with Jim. Double standard.
Permalink 06/20/06 @ 00:50
Comment from: Jim [Visitor]
That isn't playing to win. And I was rootin' for the guy. That was simply gambling. That was hoping you would pair up on the River.

It started on 16 when he tried to punch that utility club 140 yards. Even a Sunday hack wouldn't try to punch a utility club out of 5 1/2 inch rough. Three feet later he hits iron to the middle of the green. 2 stroke lead, you hit iron to start with.

18 has no excuse at all. How many times do you go to the Driver well? Keep in mind, if the tent wasn't there he may have been 2 fairways over. (if that's how you carve, stay away from my turkey) That isn't trying to win. That's Tin Cup.

9th inning, down a run, bases loaded, 2 out, am i trying to hit a home run or just making good contact or walk? 4th quarter, 4th down, losing by a touchdown, a yard for the first down. Am I going to go long post or do I try a short, high percentage pass ro run up the middle for the first down?

C'mon, what Phil did wasn't trying to win. In that situation, playing the percentages is trying to win.

Anyone who has ever played the game to less than a 20 handicap knows that when the Driver is going bad, it ain't coming back in all probability. Certainly not under that pressure and those conditions.

He didn't play to win. In fact, at the end, he wasn't playing golf at all.

He was hackin' just like the rest of us.

Permalink 06/20/06 @ 08:31
Comment from: Tim McDonald [Member] Email
Jim, I know it's difficult to understand the psyche of someone like Mickelson.

My opinion is that whatever this thing is inside him, that which makes him take courses of action that seem foolish to everyone else, is the very thing that made him great in the first place.

It is often his downfall, obviously, and perhaps there is something else there as well, something darker. He likes to put himself on the edge, and I think a part of him embraces failure. If he was a REAL gamber, he would either be fabulously wealthy or living on the street. That's just the way he is; it doesn't particularly suit his chosen profession very well, but I think he would be like that whatever he did.
Permalink 06/20/06 @ 08:41
Comment from: Wyomick [Visitor]
I'll take the gambling Phil; what fun to watch. He knows from whence his bread is buttered. The real winner in this tourney was the USGA; they proved they can trick any course up to make these guys shoot whatever they dictate. Heck, next year maybe they'll narrow the fairways to 20 yds, grow the primary to 8", and double cut & roll unwatered greens every day, so the winning score is 15 over. Where does it stop? These guys complain about standards for equipment; what's their standard for golf courses, hmmmm?
Permalink 06/20/06 @ 14:49
Comment from: Jim [Visitor]
The Open is special Wyomick. Since '63 it's been about 'the last man standing'. Most of the PGA courses do have standard setups. It gets old seeing -17 win every weekend.

The Open is the only real endurance test other than The British when it's rainy and windy.

It's once a year and though they probably all get real frustrated, these players love it. In my estimation, it is the toughest Major to win. It rewards the best. And the leaderboard usually reflects that.

It has the same effect on fans as a crash does in NASCAR. You hate to see it but you can't stop yourself from watching.

BTW, this is my first ever blog so bear with me.
Permalink 06/20/06 @ 19:43

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