|
For Phil he has played second fiddle to Tiger Woods for years now and despite the fact that he is going to be 37 next month, still feels he can make a run at him. In order to do that, Mickelson had to take drastic steps in the way he changed things around to give him that one advantage that would lead him to beat Woods. That step was to work with the man that helped make Woods famous, Butch Harmon.
Yes on paper they "officially" started working together at the Nelson, but in reality it's been going on for years. Phil and Butch have always had a good relationship and this partnership almost took off at the 2003 Accenture Match Play Championship, when Phil started the relationship with Butch by asking him to look at his swing. Phil trusted what Butch would tell him but for the relationship to really blossom Phil would have to change a few things that Harmon was going to tell him. That turned out to be too much for Phil to handle so they parted company.
The real stumbling block to this happening was a battle of two Grand Canyon egos. Butch not only wanted Phil to listen and embrace his teachings, but he also wanted Mickelson to change some of his bad habits, something that Mickelson wanted to do but didn't want to commit to it.
So they went a few years until this year's Match Play when Butch got a call from Phil who was driving from his home in California to Tucson. At that time Phil was getting over the sting of his defeat to Charles Howell III at the Nissan and was willing to make some of the changes in his lifestyle that Butch would suggest.
They worked together at the Match Play and the relationship started to grow. In a way Butch is perfect for Mickelson because not only does Phil understand what Butch is teaching him he also loves hearing Harmon tell stories about a byegone era. So in a way Harmon has this special trance over Mickelson which is paying dividends.
Now for Butch this relationship works because he would love coaching another world number one. No matter what Butch tells us about his breakup with Tiger Woods, that breakup is still a bit painful for him. Harmon feels he gave Tiger what he needed to become the best player in the world and still has a wealth of knowledge that he could of past on to Woods. But Woods wanted to go in a different direction so the partnership ended.
So for Butch this puts him on top of the list of golf instructors, just like he was with Greg Norman and Tiger. More importantly he feels that he can help Mickelson win more majors which is the name of the game.
No matter what, this whole arrangement is great for golf because moments after Phil won The Players everyone put their focus on a possible showdown of Woods and Mickelson at Oakmont.
Keys to victory for Mickelson
|
Yes Mickelson was 65th in driving accuracy as he hit 30 of 56 fairways, but this a bit misleading because of the way he drove it on the final day, he hit 10 of 14 in the fairway.
Now in greens hit Mickelson was T24th as he hit 46 of 72. Looking at the past champions it's the least amount of greens hit since 1999 when David Duval only hit 43.
So with stats like those you have to think that putting was his savior. The numbers are a bit misleading when you consider putting in greens hit he ranked 23rd and in total putts his 110 putts ranked T22nd.
So the question is how did Mickelson win this tournament:
- It was putting, he didn't have a single three putt and had 32 one putts. But even more important, Mickelson had 60 putts this week inside ten feet. He only missed 4 of them which ties his personal best of 4 missed at the 2003 Shell Houston Open and 2003 Colonial.
- Phil's game blossomed as the week progressed. In the earlier rounds he was wild off the tee and missed a lot of greens. In the first round he missed 6 greens, in the second 12. Still Phil's short game kept him in the tournament, in the first round he got it up and down 5 of 6 holes, and 8 out of 12 in the second round.
- Phil overpowered the par 5s as he played them in 10 under, he ranked 2nd best.
- HMickelson was the only player in the field that didn't have a round over par.
Mickelson's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 30 of 56 ..... (T65th) Driving average: 288.3 ..... (32nd) Greens hit: 46 of 72 ....... (T24th) Putts: 110 (27.50 a rd) .... (T22nd) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 1 1-putt greens: 39 2-putt greens: 32 3-putt greens: 0 Play on par 3s: +1 Play on par 4s: -2 Play on par 5s: -10 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 17 ................ (T3rd) Scrambling: 18 of 26 (69.23%)... (T9thth)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What does this win mean for Mickelson
- Wins what many calls golf's fifth major.
- Fuels the fire on the Woods/Mickelson battle, it will be interesting to see the hype at Oakmont during that week.
- Sunday's round tells us that Mickelson can hit it straight and will know what to do at Oakmont.
- Makes him the favorite over Woods at the U.S. Open.
- Becomes the 2nd ranked golfer in the World Golf Rankings.
Sean O'Hair - Why he lost
|
No two ways about it Sean O'Hair lost the tournament when he made seven at 17, but you have to wonder if the outcome would have been different if he didn't miss that little putt at 16 for Birdie. If he could have made it, this would have added more pressure on Mickelson who has hit a lot of balls in the water at both 17 and 18. But once he missed that putt he had to press to get a birdie at 17 which resulted in the shot that went over the green.
Puts O'Hair back in the limelight again, after winning Rookie of the Year in 2005 he hasn't done much.
Here are some other reasons for losing:
- Had four three-putts for the week.
- Played the par 3s in five over par with all of those shots being dropped at 17. He found the water three times on that hole.
- While Mickelson's game improved over the four days, O'Hair's went downhill. An example of that was driving accuracy, on Thursday he hit 13 of 14 fairways, it went down to 12 of 14 on Friday, 11 of 14 on Saturday and 9 of 14 on Sunday.
O'Hair's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 45 of 56 ..... (T3rd) Driving average: 295.1 ..... (14th) Greens hit: 49 of 72 ....... (T8th) Putts: 114 (28.50 a rd) .... (T49th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 0 1-putt greens: 34 2-putt greens: 34 3-putt green: 4 Play on par 3s: +5 Play on par 4s: -1 Play on par 5s: -9 Eagles: 0 Birdies: 16 ................ (T14th) Scrambling: 15 of 23 (65.22%) (28th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What this means for O'Hair:
- Can make this into a positive. He played great all week and under the final round pressure on Sunday. Shows that he can win this and many other titles
