Sensational final round effort earns 3-shot win over Woods

By Mike Blum

With the exception of a few tournaments early in the season, 2009 seemed destined to be a year Phil Mickelson would just as soon forget.

Both his wife and mother were diagnosed with breast cancer, with Mickelson taking two breaks from the PGA Tour as a result. When he returned to the course, Mickelson was clearly off his game with the one week exception of the U.S. Open.

In his eight most recent starts prior to the PGA Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, Mickelson finished outside the top 50 five times, barely cracked the top 30 twice and suffered his second near miss in a major championship this year, tying for second at Bethpage Black after a dramatic back nine charge stalled at the end.

Mickelson has a history of not playing especially well towards the end of the PGA Tour schedule, particularly when the about-to-conclude season has not been one of his more successful ones.

After an opening round 73, which included a quadruple bogey 8 on a par 4 when he was just a few yards off the green in two, it appeared that Mickelson’s season to forget would end on a somewhat predictable note.

But he rebounded with an excellent 67 in the second round, notching three birdies on the first six holes and six for the day to get back to even par, five strokes off the lead held by Tiger Woods.

Mickelson came back with another outstanding effort Saturday, firing a 66 to move up even farther on the leader board. He began the final round tied for third, four strokes behind leader Kenny Perry and two in back if Woods.

On a day when the next best score was 67 and only two other players shot lower than 69, Mickelson produced a flawless 65 and a 9-under 271 total to score what turned out to a surprisingly easy 3-stroke victory over Woods, whose runner-up finish earned him the $10 million bonus for winning the season long FedExCup.

With his victory, Mickelson became the first player to win the Tour Championship at East Lake twice. He also won in 2000, shooting 66 the final day to overcome a 2-stroke deficit to Woods after 54 holes.

“It means a lot to finish the year off on such a good note,” Mickelson said. “We’ve been through a lot and I’m very proud of my wife and my mom on the fight they’ve been through, and we’re fortunate that our long-term outlook looks good.”

While there has been good news on the health front for the Mickelson women, Phil’s game had been ailing since early May, about the time the news broke about his wife and mother.

Mickelson was off to a strong start to the ’09 season, winning at Riviera in LA and Doral in Miami and making a memorable final day charge at a Masters title before his stirring comeback fizzled. He contended a few weeks later in Charlotte, but since then had not been a factor in any tournament other than the U.S. Open, when he made a valiant run at victory in only his second start after taking a break to be with his wife and mother.

With his focus not entirely on his golf game, Mickelson’s results suffered. Most notably, his once deft putting stroke had betrayed him, and his inability to get the ball in the hole prevented him from scoring as low as felt his ball striking warranted.

Caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay suggested Mickelson should see former PGA champion and renowned putting guru Dave Stockton, and Stockton’s work with Mickelson paid immediate dividends. For the week at East Lake, Mickelson was first in putts per green in regulation, second in putts per round and third in the total length of putts holed.

Add that to a fifth place finish in driving distance and a tie for first the final round in fairways hit, and you have the makings of a pretty successful week.

“I played one of the better rounds I played all year,” said Mickelson, who was particularly pleased that he was able to do it in that situation. “I’ve actually been hitting it like this for quite some time, but I just haven’t been getting the results because I haven’t been getting it done on the greens.

“Even when I was playing hockey there on 14 Thursday, slapping the ball all around the green, I still felt much better about my game.”

From that point, Mickelson was dominant, playing the final 54 holes in 12-under, by far the best total of anyone in the field over that stretch.

Perry followed a similar path for three rounds, shooting a 72 on Thursday when he felt ill and following it with sensational scores of 66 and 64 the next two days to overtake Woods for the lead.

But the 49-year-old Perry simply didn’t have it the final day, slumping to a 74 that included only one birdie after the second hole. Mickelson pulled even with him after almost holing his approach on the par-4 eighth hole, and birdied the par-5 ninth to Perry’s bogey to take a lead that was never less than two shots throughout the back nine.

Woods failed to mount a serious charge, scoring his first birdie at 15 and adding another at 16 to finish second in the tournament and preserve his lead in the FedExCup. Woods’ score went up one stroke each day, as he shot 67-68-69-70.

Sean O’Hair closed with 69 to take third at 5-under, with a bogey at 17 his lone one of the day and knocking him out of a tie for second. He played the hole 4-over par for the week, including a bogey on Thursday when he shot 66 to take the first round lead.

Perry tied for fourth at 276 with Padraig Harrington, a contender throughout the tournament. Steve Stricker was sixth at 277, shooting 66 Saturday and standing 3-under after 15 holes Friday to challenge Woods for the FedExCup title before back-to-back bogeys at 16 and 17.

The victory was the eighth for Mickelson in Atlanta dating back to his days as a junior. He won the Rolex Tournament of Champions, one of the most prestigious events in junior golf, three straight times at Horseshoe Bend in the 1980s and claimed three BellSouth Classic titles at Sugarloaf in addition to his two victories at East Lake.

With his two Masters green jackets, Mickelson has 10 career wins in Georgia. He also has the distinction of posting the lowest non-winning 72-hole score in major championship history in the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in 2001.

Mickelson finished the year second in the final FedExCup standings, and moved up to second on the money list and in the World Rankings, both behind Woods. His FedExCup runner-up bonus check was $3 million, adding to the $1.35 million winner’s purse.

Not making nearly as much but deserving to be richly compensated were East Lake superintendent Ralph Kettle and his staff, who managed to get the course into outstanding condition despite the volume of rain that fell in the Atlanta area prior to tournament.

Thanks to the newly-installed sub-air system and the mini-verde Bermuda grass greens that were installed last year, the putting surfaces amazingly firm and smooth, and were exuberantly praised by the players all week. The fairways and rough displayed little evidence of the amount of rainfall on the course, and there were only a few muddy spots off the fairways for the spectators to navigate.

Largely thanks to the return of Woods after his absence due to knee surgery last year, attendance was up and TV ratings were consistently higher, even with Saturday’s third round broadcast on tape delay when tee times were moved up 3 ½ hours to get the round in before a heavy afternoon shower arrived.

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