Let's give Phil, Daly time to readjust to rigors of TOUR

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John Daly wore pink on the final day of the BMW Championship in honor of Amy Mickelson.

This is a good time to be a golf fan.

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Phil and JD are back this week. Tiger's primed for The Black -- and maybe No. 15 -- after another one of those chills-down-your-spine-tingly finishes of his, this latest at Muirfield Village.

And the U.S. Open at rough-and-tumble Bethpage -- think a gathering storm -- is just a week away.

But would it be too much to ask everyone to take a step back, breathe for a minute and put these bold-faced headlines into perspective?

Yes, until further notice Tiger Woods is the man to beat. Here, there, any major. Not an opinion here. Fact. Just poll the locker room. You won't get an argument.

But to expect -- and all but demand -- that he win because he's the defending champ or because he did the last time the U.S. Open passed through Bethpage? Like we said, let's have a little perspective here.

We haven't finished debating the best part of his win on Sunday -- the 14 of 14 fairways, the exclamation-point approach at No. 18, the hole-out from nowhere and that 65 are the leading contenders -- yet, but the Open hype is already overwhelming.

Yes, Tiger has that look in his eye once again, but could we just appreciate it for a few minutes and wait for Open week to play out?

As for Phil Mickelson and John Daly? Yes, they're back and playing at this week's St. Jude Classic -- both with intriguing storylines -- but, again, let's not get too carried away. This isn't going to be an easy week for either one of them.

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On Wednesday, Phil Mickelson is expected to host his first press conference since his wife's cancer diagnosis.

Everyone will want to ask Mickelson about his wife Amy and her battle with breast cancer. Inside and outside the ropes they'll wish him well and ask him to give their best to Amy. It's a wonderful outpouring of support but it can wear on you.

Emotions are tough to control. Even though they caught Amy's breast cancer early, it's going to be a long week -- one Mickelson can handle, we must add -- but just don't read too much into what he does or doesn't do at the St. Jude Classic.

As for Daly? Almost no one can draw a crowd like JD, which means the St. Jude Classic folks are giddy, but let's not go crazy here. Checking out his slimmed down physique and today's dizzying choice of Loudmouth pants -- think Caddyshack or Austin Powers -- is one thing. Expecting too much is another.

Daly seems to have gotten his life together during his time away from the PGA TOUR, but we've seen this before. Yes, welcome him back. Be happy he's back. But let him ease back with a limited number of "You-dah-mans."

Let's see what he's got and how he handles it. He's spent enough time giving the fans a show. Now it's time for JD to play for JD. He told Golf World's Bob Verdi he's had enough drama for 100 lifetimes. And enough, he said, is finally enough.

We hope for his sake he's right.

JD never has had much love for the U.S. Open, but he took the first step back on Monday when he tried to qualify for Bethpage anyway. He shot 143 in Germantown, Tenn., and missed by a mile, which wasn't a surprise considering he's been playing on slow greens in Europe all year.

The only reason he tried? It was Bethpage. "It's the ultimate major course,'' he said. "It's fair. It's so hard, they really can't make it any harder."

But don't think too much -- or too little -- about the 143. Just consider it a start. And think about the one thing people seldom bring up when they talk Tiger.

Patience.

Tiger has got enough for just about everyone who's ever gotten a tingle from one of his shots. He looks at things in the long term, whether it's catching Jack Nicklaus' major record or coming from five shots back for another win. It's why he won less than a year after major knee surgery and why he knows that pushing your limits is one thing, forcing something quite another.

So as we head into these next two weeks, a little perspective is in order. And a lot of patience.

Just give these three a little space, a little time and enjoy watching each of them take the next step they need to take -- not the ones we want them to take.

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.