Phil Mickelson: The Anti-Tiger

Tiger Woods almost made me forget.

He said and did all the right things, he promised to be more appreciative of the fans' support and not even that poorly crafted commercial could derail this train of image-modification. He was a politician—a smooth talker that would rival the likes of Kennedy and Roosevelt.

Then, to top it all off, he went out on day-one, shot a 68 and even gave the fans the hint of a fist-pump.

He was back and the world wanted to see him win again—wanted to see him stick it to all those people that have ruined his life, put him on display and forced him into a five-month sabbatical from the game that he loves.

The screaming galleries as he approached each tee-box seemed more appropriate for the Georgia Dome than Augusta National. He was the prodigal son and each of the thousands on hand in Augusta were standing with open arms, prepared to receive him back into his home.

And he almost made me forget about it all. The affairs and the wrecked car, neither of which would matter to me if it weren't for the lies and deceit he has placed before his fans and admirers for years. He sold us a Buick and we got a Cavalier.

So why we were all sitting in front of the television set watching his every move, hoping that there might be a chance he could catch a man that was far more deserving than anyone else in the field.

While Tiger's infidelities, his absence from golf and his stay in a sex clinic were all products of his own arrogance and selfishness, Phil Mickelson walked 18 holes for three straight days while his wife lay in bed unable to come to the course because of her cancer treatments. His mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after his wife's diagnosis.

He played all weekend, and has been playing for months worrying about the health of the two women he loves most in his life and yet he has stayed true to himself, true to the game of golf and true to the fans that make it all worthwhile.

Tiger fooled us once and unfortunately managed to do it to a lot of us over the weekend—myself included. But let's all be appreciative that he at least was unable to fool the golfing gods. Otherwise, a man who had faced more hardship and was more deserving of a green jacket would have walked off of the 18th green, forgotten.

And that man is not Tiger Woods.