Northern Trust Open: Final-round notebook
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff
LOS ANGELES -- Phil Mickelson posted a 1-over 72 on Sunday to finish 15-under 269, capturing the 2009 Northern Trust Open by one stroke over Steve Stricker (67). The victory is the 35th of Mickelson's career and comes in his 388th start on the PGA TOUR (370 as a professional). The win moves the left-hander out of a tie with Vijay Singh and into solo possession of 13th place on the all-time wins list.
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• The victory for Mickelson is worth 500 points and moves him to No. 7 in the FedExCup standings with 535 points. Kenny Perry leads the list with 716 points.
• Mickelson becomes the seventh player to successfully defend a title at the Northern Trust Open, joining Macdonald Smith (1928-29), Ben Hogan (1947-48), Paul Harney (1964-65), Arnold Palmer (1966-67), Corey Pavin (1994-95) and Mike Weir (2003-04).
• Mickelson has now successfully defended a title five times in his career: Northern Telecom Open (1995-96), Buick Invitational (2000-01), Greater Hartford Open (2001-02), Bellsouth Classic (2005-06) and Northern Trust Open (2008-09).
• After struggling somewhat with four missed cuts in his first eight starts at the Northern Trust Open (including just seven of 23 under-par rounds), Mickelson has since found his stride, with three consecutive top-2 finishes (second in 2007, first in 2008-09) and sub-par scores in 10 out of his last 12 rounds (a collective 43 under par during that stretch).
• Mickelson becomes the first player since Ben Hogan (1946-48) to follow up a runner-up finish (2007) with consecutive victories at the Northern Trust Open (2008-09). He is also one of two left-handers to win the Northern Trust Open since its debut in 1926, with both winning in back-to-back seasons (Mike Weir, 2003-04).
• Mickelson has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead in 30 stroke-play events, winning 22 times.
• Four players recorded all four rounds in the 60s this week, including runner-up Steve Stricker, K.J. Choi (tied for third), Luke Donald (tied for sixth) and Rich Beem (tied for 13th).
• The runner-up finish is the ninth of Stricker's career. He made his sixth start at the Northern Trust Open, topping his previous-best T11 in 2008.
• Fred Couples, the 2009 United States Presidents Cup captain, made his 27th start at the Northern Trust Open a good one, finishing tied for third. His amazing record here includes wins in 1990 and 1992, as well as 25 made cuts, 19 top-25 finishes and 13 top-10 finishes.
• Dating back to 1989, the Northern Trust Open has produced just two first-time winners (Kirk Triplett in 2000, Len Mattiace in 2002).
• The third-round leader/co-leader has won six of seven events so far this season, including Pat Perez at the 90-hole 50th Bob Hope Classic presented by Arnold Palmer. Because of a final-round wash-out at last week's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Dustin Johnson emerged victorious as the 54-hole leader.
• Brendon de Jonge, the 2008 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year, earned his best finish of the year with a tie for 10th, topping his tie for 25th effort at the FBR Open. His career-best showing was a tie for sixth at the 2007 Reno-Tahoe Open.
• The round of the day was turned in by Bo Van Pelt with a bogey-free 6-under 65. His bogey-free effort helped him jump from a tie for 67th to a tie for 30th in the final standings. The only other bogey-free round was recorded by Luke Donald (68).
• Bubba Watson led the field in Driving Distance this week, averaging 315.1 yards per drive, while the Driving Accuracy leaders were Bart Bryant and Chris DiMarco, who hit 46 of 56 (82.14 %). Mark Calcavecchia and Fred Couples led the field in Greens in Regulation, hitting 54 of 72 (75.00 %) greens, while Scott McCarron lead in Putts per Round at 29.33 per round.
• Riviera Country Club played to a cumulative scoring average of 70.602 on the week. By day, the scoring averages were 70.451 (Thursday), 71.201 (Friday), 70.093 (Saturday) and 70.243 (Sunday).
• The par-5 first hole played the easiest this week, yielding a 4.275 average. The par-4 second was the toughest with a 4.231 average, and yielding just 40 birdies for the week.
• • The season-long Kodak Challenge, where players must play at least 18 of the 30 Kodak Challenge holes throughout the season to be eligible for a $1 million prize, included this week's picturesque 315-yard, par-4 10th hole at Riviera Country Club. Through the first six events of the Challenge, seven players are currently deadlocked for the lead at 4 under par (Dustin Johnson, D.J. Trahan, J.B. Holmes, Dean Wilson, Cameron Beckman, Chris DiMarco and Mark Calcavecchia). The next Kodak Challenge hole is the 16th hole at the Honda Classic (March 5-8).
• Andres Romero earned $327,600 for his tie for third, propelling the 2008 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year over the $3 million in career earnings ($3,231,651) in his 28th PGA TOUR start. The 27-year-old from Argentina also has $2,460,824 in 47 starts on the European Tour.
• With a four-shot 54-hole lead, it appeared Mickelson might run away with the Northern Trust Open. But this event has a history of producing some of the most exciting finishes on TOUR. There have been a total of 16 playoffs at the tournament, with five coming since 1998, including wins by Billy Mayfair (1998), Robert Allenby (2001), Weir (2003), Adam Scott (2005) and Charles Howell III (2007). Dating back to 1989, the tournament has ended in a playoff (6) or by a single shot (8) 13 times -- including Mickelson's one-stroke win on Sunday.
• Robert Allenby, winner of the 2001 Northern Trust Open, finished tied for 17th this week. The four-time PGA TOUR winner has finished inside the top-20 four of the last five years at the Northern Trust Open (tied for third in 2005, missed the cut in 2006, tied for third in 2007, tied for seventh in 2008, tied for 17th in 2009).
• David Duval's tie for 59th this week represents just the third time since the beginning of the 2007 season that he has made the cut in consecutive starts. He also made the cut in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he tied for 55th.
• By the numbers: Allenby extended his streak of made cuts to 28 this week, just one behind Tiger Woods. ... D.J. Trahan (tied for 30th) and Jeff Klauk (tied for 41st) are the only players to make all six cuts this season. ... Couples has now competed in 101 rounds at the Northern Trust Open.
• Ben Crane withdrew prior to the start of the final round with a neck injury.
• Mickelson collected $1,134,000 to move into the top spot (surpassing Weir) on the all-time tournament money list with $2,874,725. He also moved from No. 139 to No. 6 on the 2009 PGA TOUR money list with earnings of $1,164,290, and surpassed the $1 million mark in season earnings for the 14th consecutive season. In addition, he passed the $51 million mark in career PGA TOUR Official Money with $51,687,191, and ranks third all-time.
• Mickelson became the 15th multiple winner of the Northern Trust Open, led by four-time winners Macdonald Smith and Lloyd Mangrum. He is also the seventh player to successfully defend a title at the event, and the first since fellow-lefty Weir (2003-04).
• Mickelson has seven made cuts in 11 starts at the event, with all three top-10 finishes coming the past three years. He joined Ben Hogan (1946-48) as the only players in tournament history to follow up a runner-up finish (2007) with consecutive wins (2008-09), and is one of just two left-handers to win the tournament, with both winning in back-to-back seasons (Weir, 2003-04).
• Mickelson has posted wins in 15 of 18 seasons since turning pro in 1992, and now has won for the sixth consecutive season on the PGA TOUR. Tiger Woods has won in 13 straight seasons (1996-08), and Vijay Singh has won in seven straight seasons (2002-08).
• This marked the 22nd time (out of 30 stroke-play events) that he has won after holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead.
• Mickelson now has won 12 times in the state of California: Buick Invitational (3: 1993, 2000, 2001); AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (3: 1998, 2005, 2007); Mercedes-Benz Championship (2: 1994, 1998); and Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (2: 2002, 2004) and Northern Trust Open (2: 2008, 2009).
• Mickelson is one of just three players to win all four of the current California TOUR events. A year ago, the San Diego native joined Billy Casper and Johnny Miller, also California natives from San Diego and San Francisco, respectively, as the only players to win the Buick Invitational, Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and Northern Trust Open in their careers.
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