Mickelson's method to madness again memorable
By Bob Stevens, PGA TOUR Network Announcer
What will you remember about the '08 season? That was the simple question we asked PGATOUR.COM staffers and freelance contributors, who responded with a series of short essays that we will post during November (click here for the archive link).
Overshadowed by Tiger Woods' stunning one-legged U.S. Open triumph -- as well as Rocco Mediate's gallant, everyman effort to keep Tiger from his destiny -- was the Phabulous Pholly of Phil Mickelson's second-guess special, the much-discussed, almost universally panned decision by the third-best player in the world to leave the driver in his locker for the first 36 holes at Torrey Pines.
Monday Morning Quarterbacking being what it is, especially in golf, Phil's move was a classic. But the reasoning certainly seemed sound.
Using real estate's basic tenant -- Location! Location! Location! -- on a course that would cover more real estate than any previous Open setup, Phil figured his 320-yard drives might run through them into the historically thick Open roughs. He thought 290- to 300-yard tee shots would be plenty.
But pretty much the same narrow divide that separates genius from mad scientist often separates "winner" and "loser" in major tournaments. At the '08 Open, the difference was as narrow as the USGA's graduated rough lines, and Mickelson's inability to keep his ball inside those lines, even with his 11.5 degree 3-wood (that Tiger himself noted as more of the old 2-wood "brassie" than a true 3-wood).
Mickelson's mistake wasn't in the theory, but in the execution. Six out of 14 fairways hit with that 3-wood both Thursday and Friday? Who could have predicted that? Certainly not former NASA scientist Dave Pelz, who sold him the shorter-and-straighter plan that blew up when, as Phil admitted, he hit it "short and crooked."
Meanwhile, Rocco's driving distance figure was what Phil was shooting for. It's just that Rocco hit 11 more fairways in that span.
It's not that Mickelson hasn't thought "outside-the-box" before. He'd gambled against the golf gods and Mother Nature in his two 2008 wins. He carried five wedges at Colonial, and beat Tim Clark by a stroke. And he flew from his Rancho Santa Fe home to Riviera, having to change his pro-am tee time because of fog but making it every competition day to win by two shots.
Of course, Mickelson won a major championship carrying two drivers at the '06 Masters, but lost one when he didn't carry a 3-wood at Winged Foot two months later. Even his nemesis, Mr. Woods, rewrote conventional thinking with his only-one-driver romp through Royal Liverpool at the British Open.
So there was certainly precedent for some Mickelson Magic at Torrey Pines. It just didn't work.
In his noted book on creativity, renowned psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (thank heavens that name never made a golf tournament leaderboard!) points out that there are a number of paradoxes in highly creative people, like Mickelson. One of them is that they can be rebellious and conservative at the same time, as Phil was by sticking to a radical plan to keep the ball in the fairway even if he gave up massive yardage.
Another is an openness and sensitivity that often exposes them to suffering and pain. From "I am such an idiot" at Winged Foot to "Unfortunately, it happens. It sucks, but it happens" at Torrey Pines.
What was Mickelson's major at Arizona State? Psychology.
Bob Stevens, a PGA TOUR Network announcer, is a former University of Tulsa classmate of Hank Haney and Nancy Lopez, although neither one ever advised him to go driverless at Torrey Pines.
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