Remember what's important: Phil locked it up for ASU

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Every saguaro cactus in Tempe is standing just a little bit taller these days, writes Stan Awtrey, of Mickelson's effect on the college team golf competition last week.

Little did Phil Mickelson realize the side benefit of his victory at last week's Wolrd Golf Championships-CA Championship. Sure, the win lifted Lefty to No. 2 in the FedExCup points standings and back to No.2 in the world, within a flop shot of Tiger Woods, and that's certainly something that should swell his chest with pride.

But the additional benefit goes to Mickelson's college. With Phil's latest win, Arizona State now has the best college golf team on the PGA TOUR. Every saguaro cactus in Tempe is standing just a little bit taller these days.

It takes a little imagination -- and bending the NCAA rules a hair -- but the Arizona State Sun Devils are now a whisker better than the University of Florida when it comes to fielding a professional team. UNLV comes in No. 3, followed by Oklahoma State and North Carolina State.

Here's the way it was figured. In NCAA men's golf, a school sends five guys onto the course and counts the four lowest scores. That way, the school isn't penalized if one team member has a bad day. But since it would be almost impossible to find five professionals from one school, unless willing to scour the Hooters Tour, the rules for this little piece of fantasy were changed to require only three players. The measuring stick is the Official World Golf Ranking.

There is a great deal of school pride on the PGA TOUR; it's obvious from the number of Bulldog and Yellow Jacket head covers out there. The scuttlebutt around Ponte Vedra Beach is that when Mickelson found out this impending college competition, he strapped an IV to his own arm at Doral just he could compete there. He was adamant about defending the honor of good old ASU. Someone overheard Mickelson trying to sing the inspirational ASU fight song while he was laying on a gurney. (Our source said caddie Jim Mackay was standing nearby and encouraged Phil to play it safe and skip the second verse of the fight song.)

Arizona State tallied 167 ranking points with Mickelson (No. 2), Pat Perez (No. 60) and Jeff Quinney (No. 105). The Sun Devils didn't need to count Billy Mayfair (No. 125). Mickelson has now won 36 times on the PGA TOUR, while Perez earlier took the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer for his first victory and a big jump in the rankings.

Arizona State coach Randy Lein could not be reached for comment, but insiders say the longtime Sun Devils coach was an emotional wreck while watching Mickelson's Sunday showdown against Nick Watney.

Florida finished just two points behind Arizona State, thanks to the rise of Camillo Villegas, who is now No. 7 in the world. The Gators also counted Dudley Hart (No. 69) and Brian Gay (No. 93). The ageless Mark Calcavecchia was the fourth man at No. 117.

An imaginary representative interrupted Florida football coach Urban Meyer to get a comment about the golf team's finish. Meyer had been up 36 straight hours breaking down film of last year's game against Kentucky, but stopped long enough to issue this statement: "It's great to be a Florida Gator. But can someone explain to me why it's OK for that Swedish guy to play a shot in his drawers, but John Daly can't play nine holes without his shirt and shoes. Did I already say it's great to be a Florida Gator?"

UNLV finished third with 189 points thanks to No. 20 Adam Scott, No. 74 Chad Campbell and No. 95 Charley Hoffman. Ryan Moore came in next at No. 175. The real UNLV golf team actually won their own tournament last weekend when they overcame a 12-shot deficit on Sunday to beat Oklahoma State by a shot. Because his team was actually competing, UNLV coach Dwaine Knight could not be reached for an imaginary comment.

Oklahoma State was fourth at 277 behind Hunter Mahan (No. 50), Scott Verplank (No. 84) and Charles Howell III (No. 143). North Carolina State was next with 282 from with Tim Clark (No. 35), Carl Pettersson (No. 70) and Marc Turnesa (No. 177).

The best two-man teams: Arizona with Jim Furyk (No. 11) and Rory Sabbatini (No. 43), Fresno State with Nick Watney (No. 40) and Kevin Sutherland (No. 62), and Georgia Tech with Stewart Cink (No. 18) and Matt Kuchar (No. 112).

What about Stanford? The Cardinal does have the No. 1 ranked player in the world, but no one to go with him. It's like Jessica Alba being unable to find a date for the big dance. With the troubles experienced by former teammates Notah Begay and Casey Martin (now the coach at Oregon), Tiger's best potential teammates would probably be the ageless Tom Watson and Rob Grube, a four-time All-American who graduated last spring.

Stan Awtrey is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the PGA TOUR.