Phil Mickelson Is About to Enter Uncharted Territory

During the course of his 18-year career, Phil Mickelson has won 37 PGA Tour events and three major championships, yet he’s never been the face of golf.

Mickelson has been a fan favorite, for sure, but more because of his aw shucks, loveable, looser persona than his ability to go out and dominate a golf tournament.

He’s never had the golf world hanging on his every word.

He’s never been asked to “save” the PGA Tour.

And he’s never had to deal with the intense and unwavering scrutiny that comes along with being “the man.”

But on Nov. 26, a fire hydrant turned the entire golf world upside down, and Mickelson was quickly thrust into a position that drove his predecessor to the verge of the loony bin.

Just in case you haven’t realized how important Mickelson is to the game of golf right now, if you turn on The Golf Channel at 2:30 pm today, you’ll be able to watch Mickelson’s press conference live from the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.

When was the last time programming was interrupted for a player’s press conference at an average, run-of-the-mill PGA Tour event?

The majors?

Sure.

But the Farmers Insurance Open?

That’s a first.

Whether Mickelson likes it or not, he will be operating in Tiger Woods’ world for the foreseeable future.

Tiger’s world is one of nonstop, round-the-clock media scrutiny.

It’s a world where if you display an ounce of temper on the golf course, your outburst will be described in vivid detail by every news outlet in the country and the video will be posted on YouTube within 24 hours.

It’s a world where less knowledgeable members of the media will question your game, mindset, and commitment if you don’t happen to win every single tournament you enter.

Mickelson is very well spoken and enjoys engaging the gallery, so his personality goes hand-in-hand with the position he now finds himself in.

That being said, the problem here is that Mickelson’s game is just not comparable to that of Tiger Woods.  

Whereas Tiger is in contention nearly every single week, Mickelson has to deal with the same ups and downs that plague every other professional golfer on the face of the planet. The only difference is that when Mickelson is on, he’s one of the best in the world, and when he’s not, he still manages to make the cut and occasionally mount some form of a weekend charge.

But Mickelson will not contend every week.

He never has.

Part of what makes Mickelson such an intriguing character is that we never know which Mickelson is going to show up. Will it be the one that carded a 30 on Sunday on the front nine of the 2009 Masters, or the one that let the tournament slip through his hands on the back nine?

Mickelson is scheduled to play in five consecutive events starting tomorrow at the Farmers Insurance Open.

If his game is sharp, he could win two, maybe even three times over the next five weeks.

If not, well, he might still make cuts, but he probably won’t contend.

That’s just Phil.

History has shown us that once in a generation a player shows up and completely dominates the game.  

We’ve had Vardon, Hagen, Jones, Nelson, Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, and now we have Woods.

Is Mickelson a tremendous golfer?

Absolutely.

But he is not this generation’s dominant force, no matter how much the PGA Tour, the fans, and the media want him to be.

Mickelson is an excellent ambassador for the game, and he’s poised to have a huge year on the golf course in 2010.

However, if you’re looking to turn on the television every Sunday and see Mickelson in contention, you’ll occasionally find what you’re looking for, but you’ll probably be disappointed most of the time.

That’s the way it is for 99.9 percent of professional golfers. We’ve just been spoiled over the past decade by that 0.1 percent known as Tiger Woods.