Gambling man Mickelson cashes in on palm-tree wager
 
May. 12, 2007
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By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- "I didn't want to tell you about the gap I had. I didn't want to tell you."

Phil Mickelson always is going to retain a bit of his gambling swagger, and he slyly put it on display midway through the third round of THE PLAYERS Championship. So risky was his second shot through the palm trees from a waste bunker on the par-4 10th hole that he didn't dare tell his caddie, Jim (Bones) Mackay, what he was doing until the ball landed safely on the green.

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Phil Mickelson is looking for his first win at THE PLAYERS. (Martin/WireImage)
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Phil Mickelson at THE PLAYERS
Year Finish Score to Par
2006 T-14 -2
2005 T-40 +2
2004 T-3 -8
2002 T-28 +2
2001 T-33 +2
2000 CUT +10
1999 T-32 +7
1998 T-8 -5
1997 CUT +9
1996 T-33 -7
1995 T-14 +1
1993 CUT +2
1992 CUT +2

It was that kind of daring golf combined with just enough precision, including a 9-iron to tap-in distance at the par-4 home hole, which helped Mickelson shoot a 3-under-par 69 on THE PLAYERS Stadium Course Saturday afternoon and keep the gap minimal against the streaking Sean O'Hair.

"That was a nice way to end the round, especially when the guy in front of me was birdieing every hole," said Mickelson, the 36-hole leader who has won 30 PGA TOUR events but seeks his first PLAYERS title. "I was thinking not so much in the last group (but) if I shot a birdie I'd be in the 60s. That would be a victory to me because I didn't get all out of the round that I wanted.

"But I like the position I'm in, yeah," added Mickelson, who at 8-under-par 208 trails O'Hair by one stroke.

Thanks to a two-hour range session with his new instructor Butch Harmon, Mickelson enjoyed his best ball-striking round of the tournament. He hit nine fairways and was in the first cut of rough twice more to give himself opportunities to go at the greens. His iron game was a bit off, but he still hit 12 greens.

Having tied for third in his last two starts -- or since he started working with Harmon -- Mickelson is enjoying perhaps his best stretch of consistent golf since he won the 2005 PGA Championship and added the '06 Masters.

"I got into a good rhythm and hit a lot of good shots today. Unfortunately, I didn't hit some of my irons as close as I wanted to. But I still hit a lot of good shots. I'll take 3-under par.

Especially, being in the last group on Saturday, he had to watch dozens of players making birdies and putting up red numbers. Lefty admitted that he started to get antsy in the middle of his round once he struggled to get putts to fall.

"In the middle of the round when a couple putts didn't fall on 5 and 6 and I had some good chances for birdies, I felt myself kind of press a little bit. So I tried to stay patient and made some good, solid pars the back side and ended up finishing with a couple of birdies. I'm going to have to be a little more patient tomorrow than I was today.

"When you're in the last group that's going to happen," he added. "You're going to watch what guys are doing, and if guys aren't making a run you're going to make pars.

As for his shot of the day, it was vintage Lefty. For all the good shots he hit, the recovery through the trees at the 10th was a hot topic.

"Well, there was all that space," Mickelson said of the gap about 30 feet high framed by the palm fronds in explaining why he just didn't chip back into the fairway. "I didn't think it was that risky. The hole in the trees was in the right spot for the trajectory of the club I had."

It wasn't an easy shot, but Mickelson insisted it wasn't terribly risky and he played it 30 feet right of the pin -- just where it ended up. "It was just risky enough that I didn't want Bones to talk me out of it."

Harmon seems to be talking Mickelson into a higher level of golf in recent weeks. "I think we're definitely on the right path," he said.

Sunday will reveal how true that is.