Mickelson knows he needed to play better but he still has a shot

ATLANTA -- Phil Mickelson understands the situation better than most.

He started the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup ranked fourth, comfortably positioned among the five players who would come to East Lake this week with a chance to pocket the $10 million bonus by winning THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

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Four weeks and three tournaments later, Mickelson has arrived in Atlanta with a chance to defend his title at THE TOUR Championship. Now that he's fallen to 10th in the standings, though, Lefty needs to some help from the top five to win the FedExCup.

So here's the deal.

First, Mickelson must successfully defend his TOUR Championship title -- becoming the first player ever to do so. If Matt Kuchar finishes fifth or worse, Dustin Johnson fourth or lower, Charley Hoffman and Steve Stricker third or worse and Paul Casey second or lower, the FedExCup stars could align for Lefty.

Mickelson knows he has no one but himself to blame for his predicament. He missed the cut in the first Playoffs event and dropped to No. 10, then fell four spots further with a tie for 25th at TPC Boston. He got back to 10th, though, with a tie for eighth at the BMW Championship that was fueled by a closing 67.

And this is, after all, the Playoffs. The New Orleans Saints don't get a pass into the Super Bowl in January just because they won it all last year.

"I haven't played well in the first three FedExCup events, and so you have to have some value to those events," Mickelson explained. "You can't have it all just ... come down to one event. I guess you could, but I haven't played well enough in the first three events.

"If I had played halfway decent, I would be in a position to control my own destiny. I started out third or fourth, started out in good position, but because of my play, I am where I'm at."

Mickelson has some other things at stake this week, too.

What would be his second win of the season on Sunday might be enough to land him Player of the Year honors in a wide-open race. Not to mention, a win or a three-way tie for second would enable Mickelson to overtake Tiger Woods as the No. 1 player in the world for the first time in his career.

"I'd love to take advantage of the opportunity," said Mickelson, who has had 10 other chances to become No. 1 this year. "I don't follow the ranking points and so forth, but I know that I've had multiple opportunities for months, and I haven't played well enough to do it. Hopefully I do this week."

If not, Mickelson is content with his performance in 2010. The highlight, of course, was that victory at the Masters, his fourth major title, and the embrace he shared with his wife Amy on the 18th green. It was the first time Amy had been seen publicly at a tournament since she was diagnosed with breast cancer a year earlier.

During the season's final major, Mickelson also revealed that he has psoriatic arthritis, a chronic inflammaory condition that causes swelling in and around the joints. Before the diagnosis, now controlled by weekly shots, there were times when Mickelson had trouble walking.

One of the TOUR's most dedicated carnivores, Lefty has even become a vegetarian in an effort to control the disease.

"The last 16 months has been an interesting 16 months," Mickelson acknowledged. "As a family we've been through a lot. And the Masters kind of made the year for me. It meant a lot to us emotionally, it meant a lot to me personally.

"I look back at the year, and it really comes down to that one event. I mean, there were other events I played okay in, but I haven't won any other events yet. For me the year was kind of salvaged by that Masters win. That's how much that tournament means to me."

Mickelson finished second the following week at the Quail Hollow Championship, then tied for fifth at the Memorial Tournament and fourth at the U.S. Open. But he didn't have another top-10 until two weeks ago at Cog Hill, which interestingly came on a course Mickelson does not particularly like.

So THE TOUR Championship offers Mickelson, who will head to Wales next week for the Ryder Cup, one last opportunity to end the season on a high note like he did last year when he went from 14th to second in the FedExCup.

"I actually feel like I'm playing better now heading into this week," Mickelson said. "I feel like I'm playing the best I've played this year heading into this week."