- FedExCup Points: 50,000
- Purse: $7.0 million
- Winning Share: $1,260,000
- Yards: 6,839
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
HARRISON, N.Y. -- Phil Mickelson came away impressed.
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He played with Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York City, in Wednesday's pro-am at The Barclays. A 21-handicap, Bloomberg contributed several natural pars as well as net birdies on the first and second holes.
"He gave us some good momentum," reported Mickelson, who shot 69 on his own ball. "We played the back nine first, so he gave us a good middle-of-the-round push."
Mickelson could use that same kind of boost his honor the mayor contributed to the team this week at The Barclays, which kicks off the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
At stake is a $10 million bonus, the largest in sports. The player who holds the hot hand in the four-event Playoff series will be a very happy man at the end of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Momentum, though, has been in short supply for the three-time major champion this year. Mickelson playing well the first four months of the year, but two weeks after he won THE PLAYERS Championship a wrist injury brought things to a screeching half.
He had to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament, and then missed the cut at the U.S. Open, AT&T National and British Open in his next three starts. He comes to Westchester Country Club on the heels of an uncharacteristic tie for 32nd at the PGA Championship.
The wrist, though, is a non-issue now. The pain is gone, and for the first time in nearly three months, Mickelson is finally able to put in the time on the practice range to fine-tune the work he and Butch Harmon have put into his swing.
And for that reason, he's energized and ready to go.
"My excitement level to play golf is very high," Mickelson said. "I feel like I've been suspended for three months, and it's interesting that my hand feels great now. ... I feel like my game is getting sharp. ...
"So I am actually very excited about the FedExCup and I'm excited about the Presidents Cup, and I'm even going to play a few events overseas this year, which I haven't normally done in the past, and it's because I'm excited to play."
Mickelson says he plans to compete in all four Playoff events. He's never won at Westchester but he's tied for 13th, 25th, 16th and 18th in even-numbered years since 2000, and the New York fans should be clearly on his side, as they were when he won the PGA at Baltusrol.
"I can already sense that it's a different feeling here than it is in a normal event," Mickelson said. "I think we are all excited to try to make a push to win the big prize there at the end, and it should be an exciting four weeks for golf. I think we are all looking forward to it."
Mickelson starts the playoffs seeded fourth, just 2,000 points behind No. 1 Tiger Woods, who is taking the week off to rest after back-to-back wins at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship.
So with 9,000 points awarded to the winner and a total of 50,000 to be doled out, Mickelson has an opportunity to gain considerable ground on Woods -- and No. 2 Vijay Singh and third-seeded Jim Furyk -- with a good finish Sunday.
"I don't know the exact mathematics, but the projections say you have to be in the Top 10 or 15 to have a really good chance at it, which tells you that the guys who play well throughout the year have a chance of kind of fighting it out," Mickelson said.
"So this is really a great way to pull whoever it may be up on top of the lead, pull him back to the field. And so we can all fight it out these last four weeks, as opposed to have some random player run away with the Player of the Year."
Asked how the FedExCup would figure into his own voting for the postseason award, Mickelson grinned.
"Depends if I win or not," he said. "Obviously, if I win, it's going to play a huge part in my voting, and if not, not so much."
When the laughter died down, Mickelson turned serious.
"I think if somebody wins two of those four events, you have to weigh it heavily," he said. "You have the feel of a major championship here. So you have to weigh the individual victories pretty strongly. It's not like you are just winning any regular TOUR events. You are winning a big field, strong field event."
