The Live Report, Round 4: Northern Trust Open
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MICKELSON GETS THE WIN (6:37 p.m.): For a second straight day, Phil Mickelson birdied Nos. 16 and 17 and today it was good enough to wrap up career win No. 35.
After squandering what was a five-stroke lead at one point, Mickelson rallied from two back with a pair of clutch birdies late. It was his worst day of the week with his approach shots, hitting just over 50 percent of his greens in regulation, but he hit some clutch shots on the last three holes to prevent a final-round meltdown and win for the first time since last year at Colonial. -- Brian Wacker
PHIL IN CONTROL (6:20 p.m.): With a birdie on No. 17, Phil Mickelson has retaken control of this tournament at 15 under. He kept the good vibes going on 18, too, smartly using a 3-wood to keep it in the fairway. He's parred the hole each of the first three rounds and unless Fred Couples makes a birdie here, another par by Mickelson will secure his first win of the year. -- Brian Wacker
POSSIBLE PLAYOFF? (6:00 p.m.): With a birdie by Phil Mickelson and a bogey by Steve Stricker, we could be headed for another playoff here at Riviera. The two are tied as Mickelson plays No. 17 and Stricker sits and waits.
However, it should be noted that Mickelson has birdied the par-5 17th twice this week and is in good position again after hammering his drive down the fairway.
The last time we had a playoff here was in 2007 when Charles Howell III rallied from three shots back on the final day and beat ... Mickelson with a par on the third extra hole. In 2005, Adam Scott held off Chad Campbell in a Monday morning playoff after the event was shortened to 36 holes because of weather problems. In 2003, Mike Weir shot a final-round 66 before birdieing the second playoff hole to beat Howell. -- Brian Wacker
MICKELSON MELTDOWN (5:35 p.m.): Since opening with an eagle, Phil Mickelson has played Riviera in 5 over and watched his four-shot lead at the start of the day turn into a two-shot deficit.
That makes some of what he talked about yesterday look pretty prophetic.
"I haven't exactly had the performance the last three weeks that just exudes confidence heading into tomorrow," Mickelson said after a 63 yesterday. "So I'm going to have to get some work done tonight.
"It's important that heading into Augusta that I get competitive rounds, being in contention, having opportunities to win, hopefully winning, but having these rounds for some momentum heading into Augusta. It's very difficult to win that big of a tournament without that experience and without that confidence level."
It makes you wonder what his confidence level will be after today if he doesn't manage to win. -- Brian Wacker
SABBATINI STALKING LEAD (5:21 p.m.): Rory Sabbatini, who won the 2006 Northern Trust Open, has really made his presence known on the back nine with three birdies in his first four holes.
The South African two-putted from just off the fringe at the 10th hole to move to 12 under, added an 11-footer for birdie at the next and made a third birdie putt from 16 feet at No. 13. He nearly tied Steve Stricker for the lead at the 14th hole, but that birdie putt stopped 8 inches from the hole.
Sabbatini, who is 14 under and tied with Phil Mickelson with four holes to play, has a pretty good record at Riviera so none of this should come as a surprise. In addition to the victory, he tie for second in 2001 and ninth in 2007. He also has two other top-15 finishes. -- Helen Ross
PHIL FALLS OUT OF LEAD (5:04 pm): Mark it down. Phil Mickelson, who led by as many as five strokes at one point, just missed a short par putt on No. 12 to fall to 14 under and out of the lead. He now trails Steve Stricker by a stroke. -- Brian Wacker
COUPLES STRUGGLING WITH PUTTER (4:21 p.m.): Fred Couples is still in the hunt here at Riviera, but he might be in the lead if not for a balky putter.
Couples, who is 2 under on the day and two off the lead of Phil Mickelson, missed three birdie putts from inside 15 feet on the front nine and another for par from just 3 feet.
After an eagle on No. 1 and a birdie on No. 3, the former Nissan Open champ slid one by on the par-3 fourth before tapping in for bogey. He followed with misses from 8 feet on No. 6, 6 feet on No. 7 and just inside 15 feet on No. 8. -- Brian Wacker
STRICKER CLOSING IN (4:10 p.m.): Steve Stricker just moved to within a stroke of leader Phil Mickelson thanks to a front-nine 32 and a birdie on No. 11.
Stricker is looking for his first win since The Barclays in 2007 after posting six top 10s, including a runner-up at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, in 2008. -- Brian Wacker
MAKING THE TURN (3:53 p.m.): As the lead group gets set to make the turn at Riviera, let's take a look at how the three have played the final nine this week -- you might be surprised.
Of Phil Mickelson, Fred Couples and Andres Romero, only Romero has played the back under par each day with four birdies yesterday and matching 2-under 34s each of the previous two rounds.
Mickelson, meanwhile, has had two very good days and one not-so-good day with six birdies and a 30 on the final nine yesterday and an opening-round stretch of 4 under. Friday, however, he played the back in 1 over.
Couples was only 1 under yesterday and even par the day before on the back, but he did play it in 3 under on Thursday. -- Brian Wacker
EXPERIENCE AT THE TOP (3:35 p.m.): Andres Romero and J.B. Holmes might be the youngest players in the top 10 of the leaderboard right now, but they aren't without experience. Both have won on the PGA TOUR before, as has every other player in the top 10.
In fact, the top 15 players on the board all have wins on TOUR. Now it's just a matter of whether Phil Mickelson can hold his lead. He began the day four strokes ahead of everyone else, but has since seen that gap cut in half. -- Brian Wacker
GREENS PLAYING TOUGH (3:18 p.m.): Don't expect to see any 62s or 63s in the final round. Early in the week, the greens were soft and receptive to quality iron shots. Like most weeks on the PGA TOUR, the greens have gotten firmer and faster as the tournament has proceeded. Sunny skies for the week contributed somewhat to this. The PGA TOUR field staff and the expert greens crew picked up on mother nature's cue and did the rest.
In addition to only giving the greens enough water to stay alive, they have also pushed the moisture out of the greens by rolling them. A roller is just that -- it looks like a miniature steam roller. It may not seem like much, but the effect is amazing. The entire dynamic of the golf course can be changed just by rolling the greens. -- John Maginnes
STRICKER READY TO STRIKE? (3:05 p.m.): Steve Stricker is doing his best to put what happened in the final round of the 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer behind him. In the lead when the day began, he stumbled to a 77 and finished in a tie for third. So far today, though three back of Phil Mickelson, he's off to a very good start. Here's a look at his two scorecards from then and now. -- Brian Wacker
SHRINKING LEAD (2:48 p.m.): Phil Mickelson began his day by extending his lead with an eagle on the first hole, but he's since given both shots back with back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3.
After missing the green on No. 2, one of the hardest holes all week, Mickelson was unable to get up-and-down to save par. On No. 3, Mickelson hit it into the right rough off the tee. That forced him to lay up and on his third he hit it over the green. Mickelson then chipped to just inside 4 feet and made the putt. That marked the first time all week Mickelson bogeyed No. 3 and just the second time he had a bogey on No. 2.
Meanwhile, Fred Couples moved to within two with a eagle on No. 1 and a birdie on No. 3. -- Brian Wacker
DE JONGE LOOKING SOLID (2:35 p.m.): Brendon de Jonge has birdied three of his last four holes and currently tied for ninth would is looking at his best finish of this season. If he can climb into the top 5, he would have his best career finish on the PGA TOUR, surpassing his T6 at the 2007 Reno-Tahoe Open.
Last season's Nationwide Tour Player of the Year, de Jonge is third in the field in birdies this week and has been solid with his iron play, averaging nearly 70 percent on greens in regulation. His best finish of this season was a T25 at the FBR Open. -- Brian Wacker
EAGLE, AGAIN (2:15 p.m.): It looks like Phil Mickelson is picking up where he left off yesterday and the day before. He opened with an eagle on the 503-yard par-5 first hole for the third straight day and as a result has extended his lead to five.
After reaching the green in two, Mickelson rolled in a 37-foot, 10-inch putt, which is his longest make on the hole this week by about 10 feet. -- Brian Wacker
AIR PHIL (1:58 p.m.): Though Phil Mickelson is the defending champion here and in good position for his second straight victory at Riviera, he hasn't always played this tournament. It had nothing to do with him not liking the course, however -- he simply didn't like playing so many weeks in a row without being able to be home with his family.
That's where the convenience of air travel and living in San Diego comes into play. The past few years, Mickelson has been staying at home, about 100 miles away, and simply flying up.
"I think it's just relaxing not having to pack, not have to really travel, stay in a hotel, to be able to stay at home, see my kids, have dinner together," Mickelson said. "It just feels like I'm playing golf at home."
And that could have Mickelson playing here a lot more.
"Now that I've been playing well here, obviously I'm going to keep [the Northern Trust] on the schedule," he said. "Being able to stay at home, which is something I never thought of before, being able to do that the last three years, has made a big difference for my performance." -- Brian Wacker
WATCH COUPLES WHILE YOU CAN (1:45 p.m.): No matter what Fred Couples, who is five shots off the lead, does today, this will be the last you will see of him for a while.
The U.S. Presidents Cup team captain said he plans to take the next month off. He'll play some PGA TOUR events later this season and then focus on The Presidents Cup, which takes place Oct. 8-11 at Harding Park in San Francisco. From there, Couples, who turns 50 on Oct. 3, will fly to Houston to make his Champions Tour debut.
As for his future on the TOUR after that, Couples remains uncertain. "I would like to play a little bit on the West Coast," Couples said. "But after that, unless things change here in the next six months; the first four weeks have been a little bit scary with my golf game." -- Brian Wacker
EARLY MOVERS (1:30 p.m.): We've got about 15 minutes before the leaders go off today, but there are a couple of players trying to get into the mix.
Argentina's Angel Cabrera is 3 under through his first six holes and as a result he's moved from T32 to T15 at 8 under. Rich Beem has also moved up, thanks to an eagle on the par-5 first hole. He's 9 under for the tournament. -- Brian Wacker
FAST FACTS ABOUT PHIL (1:15 p.m. ET): You know Phil Mickelson enters the final round four strokes ahead of Andres Romero, he's the defending champion and, prior to this week, he'd gotten off to a slow start in 2009.
What else should you know about Mickelson?
• He's placed in the top two twice in the past two years at Riviera.
• In Saturday's round, he led the field in proximity to the hole with an average of 21 feet.
• Coming into this week, Mickelson had only made two putts over 20 feet in 34 attempts. In the third round alone, he drained two putts over 20 feet.
• He really had a great day on the back nine in round 3, where he one-putted seven out of nine times. -- Lauren Deason
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FEDEXCUP UPDATE (1:00 p.m. ET): Phil Mickelson is currently 136th in FedExCup points after three events, but he could move as high as seventh if he wins the Northern Trust Open. He finished third in the final standings last season and fourth in 2007, but has only averaged 11.6 FedExCup points per start this season.
Could it have something to do with his scrambling ability? In 2008, Mickelson was able to convert 60 percent of his missed greens in regulation into a par or better. In fact, he was ranked 26th in that category on TOUR. This season, though, he's only converting 50 percent and is tied for 176th.
Lefty's not the only one who could make a major FedExCup move on Sunday. Andres Romero was 132nd in the standings prior to this week, but could move into the top 10 if he stays in solo second place.
In two events this year, Romero had only managed three rounds under par. He has been under par in each of the first three rounds this week -- doubling his total for the season. Romero is hoping to capture his second TOUR win after earning his first victory at the 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He also garnered Rookie of the Year honors last year and placed in the top 10 in two majors.
Fred Couples is 166th and would need a win to move into the top 10. Entering this week, Couples was averaging less than four points per start in his four starts this season. Couples may be in the twilight of his career, but he can still hit it a long way -- he entered this week ranked 18th in driving distance. -- Lauren Deason
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