The loose, long strides across the fairways, the slightly goofy but endearing grin, and the every-man demeanor make Phil Mickelson an understandable fan favorite and compelling athlete.
Golf experts repeatedly proclaim him loaded with talent and his number two world ranking, 34 PGA tour wins, and $50 million in earnings prove that.
So how come he hasn't won the big ones more often? Is he just too impatient?
Watching "Lefty" is sort of like watching a three-year-old toddler with his mom at the supermarket: "Let's just stop all this shopping for milk and bread and stuff and run to the candy aisle!"
Mickelson shoots brilliant stroke-after-stroke and then, suddenly, seems to decide to throw his fate to the wind.
Golf is a grind, hole after hole after hole, like climbing a mountain and sliding back down to do it all over again. The ball is the same damn irritating, tiny, white, spherical, unpredictable, brainless object which, for most of us, can never be tamed.
For some, driving the ball off the tee so we can try to beat it into submission is the only fun part of the game.
The only time I ever really enjoyed a game of golf was in college when we played speed-croquet-baseball-golf in which we were allowed to strike or throw opponents' balls as far as we could.
Strategic choices included whether to play your own shot or try to outrun your opponent to his ball to give it the old heave-ho. Of course, we also got kicked off the golf course.
Mickelson's personality seems more attuned to a sport in which he could actually compete against other players rather than against the ball and the course. Perhaps he gets bored or impatient when he realizes his nemesis is just that darn ol' dull golf ball.
Rooting for Mickelson and Tiger Woods simultaneously during their two round match-up in the U.S. Open was a viewer's dream.
With Woods unfortunately out for rest of the year, will it be Mickelson who steps up into the winner's circle more often? If he decides he can shop for the bread and milk and still eventually get to the candy aisle, maybe Mickelson will go on a roll, setting up more drama when Woods makes his return in 2009.
Go "Lefty". Grab that licorice.
comments (0) write a comment »
write a new comment
This article has no comments.