After shooting a first round 73, which included a quadruple bogey, it looked as if Phil Mickelson’s struggles were going to continue. I don’t think that anyone could blame him for his struggles on the course though because he has had a tough year off the course with his mom and wife both getting breast cancer. In addition, he has taken considerable time off to be with them. Nevertheless though, Phil came back with solid rounds of 67 and 66 to get himself into contention going into Sunday. As Phil mentioned after his round on Saturday this was the first time he had been in contention going into the final round since the U.S. Open in June. After not putting the greatest for quite a while Phil was able to get the flatstick rolling in the second and third rounds thanks to a tip he received the previous week from two time PGA Champion Dave Stockton. Although he was putting well and playing well in general Phil still had a tough task ahead of him going into Sunday, as he started the day four shots behind Kenny Perry and two shots back of Eldrick “Tiger” Woods. Even though he was a fair way back Phil entered the final round with a lot of confidence, and felt that he would indeed be a factor.
Right from the start Phil proved that he would be a factor in the final round as he continued his solid putting by sinking long birdie putts on the third and fourth holes. This put him near the top of the leaderboard right away as both Woods and Perry came out flat. Phil continued his solid play throughout the final round and ended up carding a first nine score of 31, which is four under par. At this point Phil had the lead on his own and was in command of his game. He started out the back nine with solid pars on the first six holes, and then he chipped in for birdie to ignite the crowd at the sixteenth. At this point it looked like Phil had the tournament all locked up as he was three shots up with two to play. He played the seventeenth well and took the same margin to the eighteenth. Although he came up well short on the par three eighteenth both Phil and his caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay were jovial because they knew that Phil could make bogey and still win. Mickelson did not make bogey though. Once again he came up with a solid up and down to put away the tournament the right way.
In the end, Phil shot a final round 65 to win by three shots over Woods and finish the tournament with a cumulative score of nine under par. Also, as it had been in the second and third round, Phil’s putting was absolutely solid. At one point in the round Phil had 8 one-putts in a row. Now that’s some solid putting. Although Tiger came away with the FedEx Cup, Phil came away with a solid victory in the midst of a very tough season off the course. In addition, the win vaulted Mickelson into a second place finish in the final FedEx Cup standings. Hopefully this win is a sign of things to come next year. I would look for Phil to win at least one major next year, especially if he can putt the way he did this week. Phil will be in action next at the President’s Cup in two week as a member of team USA.
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