Phil Mickelson

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
The ultra-overdone, around the clock worshipping of Tiger Woods by the media is often justified by claiming that they are simply reflecting his popularity.

That is a lie, as anyone who follows golf knows. Tiger draws large and somewhat enthusiastic galleries, but is not as popular as Fred Couples, John Daly, Greg Norman, and Champions Tour golfers such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, and Gary Player.

And Tiger is dwarfed in popularity by Phil Mickelson. If anyone doubts that all they had to do was watch the FBR Open (formerly called the Phoenix Open) this past weekend. The huge galleries were one hundred percent rooting for Phil, and they were loud and boisterous. It is like that everywhere Mickelson plays. The Masters has adopted him as their favorite son, as have the people of Arizona, where Mickelson attended college.

Tiger would probably be more popular if the media hysteria and reverence were more in proportion to the way other top golfers are treated. Tiger is respected, but everyone knows better than not to respect him, and many fans resent the overkill media hype he receives.

Tiger is also pretty much of a cold fish when it comes to personality. He smiles occasionally on the course, which announcers always instantly attribute to his alleged peerless charisma, but fan-friendly golfers like Mickelson, Daly and Couples are a lot more fun to follow.
 

jaxvid

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
7,247
Location
Michigan
Lefty needs to keep it together and move into the number one spot. He has the talent, now is the time. This is a white mans game if there ever was one and it is long overdue to have a white player at the top. Tiger is done and VJ has had his day. Time for Phil.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Phil just finished dominating another tournament, making it back to back wins.

It's a bit startling to consider, but Mickelson is the most popular white athlete in America. Hockey players are ignored by the media, and in basketball, football and baseball, a significant portion of fans dislike even the white superstars. The only white athlete who may rival Phil in popularity these days is Brett Favre.

Edited by: Don Wassall
 

jaxvid

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
7,247
Location
Michigan
Good point Don! How about starting a poll? Most popular white athlete in America.

Mickelson
Favre
Armstrong
Nash
Clemons
Manning
Brady

Anyone else?
 

Colonel_Reb

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
13,987
Location
The Deep South
I would have those same peopl in mine, probably in a different order though. Even though I don't follow golf much, I have been hearing more and more about Phil. I hope he does dominate for a long time. He is a pretty cool guy, and fun to watch, for golf!
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Phil and Tiger have pulled wellahead of the rest of thefield and will go head to head in the final round of the Doral Open tomorrow. Woods is trying to return to his days of dominance and will regain the #1 ranking with a victory, while Mickelson is trying to have a dominant year much like Vijay Singh did last year and establish himself as the best in the world. Phil's history going head to head with Tiger is not good. There's a lot of interesting dynamics at work in this one.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
That was a great duel. After Tiger eagled 12 to go two ahead, Phil fought back gamely to tie it. He could have won but didn't have any luck at all on his putts or the great short chip on 18. At least it was different from a few years ago when everybody was folding when they played Woods in the final round. This one could easily have gone the other way. I think Phil is still going to have a huge year and win at least one major.
 

Colonel_Reb

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jan 9, 2005
Messages
13,987
Location
The Deep South
Mickelson is a lot better than he'll ever get credit for, but I think we'll see him better his game. I really doubt that Woods will ever be as good as he was when he started the tour.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
Woods finished with a 63 and 66 in the final two rounds. He was driving the ball and putting much better than he has been. He played about as well as he's capable of playing in this tournament and Phil still came very close to beating him. Phil's putting was just a tiny bit off today otherwise the result would have been different.


I don't think there's any way Woods will dominate like he once did even if he keeps playing this well. This is shaping up to be the best year in golf in a long time, maybe ever, as Mickelson, Woods, Els, Singh and Goosen all are on top of their game. And David Toms, Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott are also playing very well. It's hard to imagine anyone playing better than Toms did during the Match Play championship last week. His second nine against Ian Poulter in the semifinal was one for the ages.
 

Bart

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
4,329
Phil has played well so far, in the last Major of the year. After the second round he has built a four stroke lead. Jaxvid , Don, do you think he will fold again or hang on to win or stay close? Woods may miss the cut, if he doesn't rally.


I heard a golf analyst at the tournament say the crowd absolutely loves Mickelson. He is joking with them, laughs at their funny comments and enjoys interaction with them. On the other hand, he said Woods pretty much ignores them except when he gives them a royal wave.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
I know jaxvid thinks he will fold
smiley36.gif
but I think he will win. Could well be wishful thinking. This could be a career-defining major for Phil. If he wins, he has two in the last two years, the same number Tiger has won in that time period. If he loses, more and more he'll be looking like Greg Norman's successor. I always rooted for Norman as time and again he lost after leading going into the final round, some times because of miracle shots by an opponent but more often because he wilted just enough to lose, and I'll probably always root for Mickelson. He reminds me of the All-American kid and he represents a lot of the good things that are left in pro sports.
 

jaxvid

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
7,247
Location
Michigan
I'll always root for Phil, I'm a lefty like him, but the guy can be a heart breaker.

It would be great if he could grab this tournament by the throat and win it going away.
 

Bart

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
4,329
Yeah, I'm with you guys.Still gotta root for Phil. Jaxvid, thanks for revealing to us you're left-handed. That explains a lot! .
smiley36.gif
 

Bart

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
4,329
Leftylost his lead again.Could it be he's just trying to keep it interesting?
smiley19.gif
Maybe he'll come out tomorrow with guns ablazing?
 

jaxvid

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
7,247
Location
Michigan
I think all the white guys will lay down for VJ, they've been doing it for a few years now.
 

jaxvid

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
7,247
Location
Michigan
Well they tried to give it away, but so far nobody wanted it. Man it is painful being a Mickelson fan, he looked awful the whole weekend, fortunately no one was there to run away with it.

This is the reason Tiger wins so much, these guys do not play well in the clutch. In fact Tiger might have played better then anyone on Sunday. Who knows these guys might still back up to him?
 

Bart

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
4,329
Unbelievable! It wouldn't surprise me if they all go backwards and it ends up in a play-off between Singh and Woods. Jeesh.
 

Don Wassall

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 30, 2004
Messages
30,319
Location
Pennsylvania
I videotaped the final round but won't bother looking at it. Bottom line is Mickelson is still in the lead. If he ends up with the lowest score at the end that's all that counts. Singh won ugly at the PGA last year. But -- if Tiger ends up winning I don't think I'll be able to watch golf for quite a while. There's no way he should have been let back in it. Edited by: Don Wassall
 

Bart

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
4,329
Phil is a nice guy and you know what they say about nice guys. He needs to get focused but he's probably still in a lobby somewhere getting cramps from signing autograph's. He may write a few lines in his diary this evening.


Dear Diary, gosh darn it all, I had a big lead but couldn't quite put those guys away.You know, I thought about it buthad mixed emotions. Sure, I'd like to win another Major but holy cow, I already have one. Vijay has won more than I have but I'd like to see him win again. He's a pretty neat guy and a heck of a role model for all those dark island people. And Jeepers, I'd really hate to win and make all of Tiger's fans mad at me.Besides, he looks so cool with that red shirt, especially when he's crabby. You know, I thought I saw my buddy Charles Barkley clap real loud when Tiger was charging. I thought we were best buds? Wait a minute... if I win tomorrow, Sir Charles might get mad at me. What to do...what to do...
 

jaxvid

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
7,247
Location
Michigan
Geez Bart, you're tougher on Phil then I am!
 

Bart

Hall of Famer
Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
4,329
Unlike most of the nervous Nellie's I never had a doubt he'd win.
smiley4.gif
He sure likes to make things interesting, you'd have to agree. It was nice to see his family enjoying the moment with him. Even though it'sgreat to see Phil hold his ground and not give one away, I am even happier that a certain someone didn't sneak up on him. What a great picture !



<TABLE id=yspTopStoryModule cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" ="yspwhitebg"><T>
<T>
<TR>
<TD vAlign=top ="ysptimedate">
18980942.jpg

</TD>
<TD noWrap width=9></TD></TR></T></T></TABLE>Edited by: Bart
 

jaxvid

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
7,247
Location
Michigan
Good job Phil! The only reason he won is because I wasn't watching! I know it is a cliche' but he played great on Thurs/Fri. as soon as I tuned in on Sat he went bogey, bogey, par save, then I had to go away and he got the lead back. The game GD thing happened on Sunday, whenever I watched him he stunk. Now on Monday with no chance for me to watch he makes birdie on 18 to win.

Well. whatever, he won. I'm happy for him, with two majors he never has to hear sh*t again. maybe this will spur him on to greater things.
 

KG2422

Mentor
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
986
Location
Texas
Great to see. You would never know other guys were leading by the way ESPN covers golf. Tiger is all they show no matter who is winning ,but you guys already know that. It will probably take 3 years of Tiger losing for us to get a reprieve. It reminds me of the James Byrd dragging. That's all we heard about for years even though there were several "hate crimes" committed against whites who were better citizens than Byrd. Anyways, I'm glad Phil won. Maybe that can quiet some criticism and increase his confidence for a nice run.
smiley32.gif
 
Top