Mickelson: I would hit driver again at Winged Foot

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=2797259

Pretty darn good as-told-to interview/story that Phil Mickelson did with ESPN the Magazine's Jeff Bradley, and it will probably make the Phil haters seeth with rage (that means you, hondo). I still think was absolutely right about the Tiger playing with inferior equipment at the time, and it was silly how much he was ripped for speaking the truth. Funny how Tiger started kicking ass again when he stopped playing with a wound ball and a metal shafted driver.

My thread headline doesn't really do it justice. Some quick quotes:

 

.....and that's why he's such an idiot.

NO WAY.........I say NO WAY do you hit driver there under that circumstance.

 

How idiotic.

 

I'm torn between him been right about the go for broke style and that being a cop out for not wanting to succeed when the going gets tough. Tiger pars you to death when he's protecting a lead and Phil doesn't.

 

Yes, Phil, you have won a ton playing your way. Nobody can argue that. But there are a lot of us that think you could have won more by taking a few less risks in the big moments.

 

I've been one of those guys who did not like him because (1) he seemed oh so fake; and (2) the masses (Bethpage) cheered for him because he was the anti-Tiger, the white guy.

I have come to respect him because he's won majors and he doesn't disparage anyone. That interview/column shows that he's just doing what he thinks is best and he's honest about it.

Good find. Thanks.

 

Great story. Thanks for posting that. I love Phil's honesty and that he doesn't hold a lot back. It makes me remember that during his prime people used to call Jack Nicklaus "Karnak" because everyone thought he was a know-it-all.

Hitting driver was still the right thing for Phil to do there. The supposed golf truism that a driver is too hard to control is grounded back in the 1980s when guys were still hitting with wooden 1-woods. The modern driver is the easiest club to hit and has the best forgiveness. Even if Phil misses the fairway, which he did, he can still make a par. The bad shot at the US Open was his second shot, not the drive.

 

Phil points out something in this story that most people overlook, but I was totally thinking when he was playing that day: He wasn't awful on 18, he was awful the entire day. He should have been five shots off the lead when he stepped to the 18th tee, and the fact that he was still leading by a stroke is a testament to how lucky he was all day, and how good his short game was. He tried to curve that three iron around the tree on his second shot because he'd been getting away with that all round. Why wouldn't he be able to do it one more time?

Also, I really don't think the folks at Bethpage were cheering for Phil because he was the white guy. They were cheering for him because he was the underdog, and while Tiger refused to look a single fan in the eye for four days, Phil was tipping his cap, high-fiving kids, and not acting like an android. Tiger has been marketed as a ubiquitous everyman for close to a decade now, and I don't think people see him through the prism of race anymore. He's just a really rich, really good, intense, ass kicking, cold-blooded competitor with a model wife who stops his competitors like they're gum. He's Goliath.

Phil, because he fails so spectacularly, is much easier to relate to. I've blown up on 18 with a lot of money on the line, and had to shrug if off over a beer ... or five beers. I've never split the fairway with a 350-yard bomb, hit a 7-iron 205 yards to four feel, curled in a birdie to win by a stroke, walked off the course with a cold smirk on my face like I expected it to happen, then boned my Sweedish au pair wife in celebration.

That's why: I'm in awe of Tiger.

But I root for Phil.

 

I have never once "seethed with rage" over Phil Mickelson. The guy is such a clueless moron that I find him humorous more times than not.

 

Uh......and the club that led him to be in the rough.....yeah....that easy to hit driver...

4-iron

7-iron

putt

putt

kiss Amy

kiss trophy

oops.

 

The driver thing is kind of a cheap second-guess.

He hit irons off the tee that day and couldn't keep in the fairway with them, either.

If your chances are horrible of hitting the fairway, might as well hit the driver and at least get it as close to the green as possible. Where he went wrong were shots 2, 3 and 4 on that final hole at Winged Foot.

 

I kind of like Phil. At a time when pro golfers are becoming more and more like the rest of the pro athletes in the world in dealing with the press (less access, more guarded, more people), Phil is still pretty good when he is in the media room, off 18, etc.

My deal with him on 18 at Winged Foot wasn't as much about the choice of driver off of the tee, it was with the second shot. At that point, he should've taken his medicine and made sure he got the ball back in the fairway. Then he can either get it up and down for par and the win. Or he can make bogey and get in the playoff. Whatever he does, he needs to take double out of the equation. So what does he do? He tries an extremely difficult shot, brings double into the mix and makes double.

That's what makes me shake my head more than anything.