Phil Mickelson: Lefty Shows He's Still a Force to Be Reckoned with at Pro-Am

There was more than enough star power to go around at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. There were celebrities all over the place, and even the great Tiger Woods felt the urge to grace the tournament with his presence for the first time in a decade.

As if Tiger's presence wasn't enough, he was paired with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Next to that pairing, all other participants and pairings paled in comparison.

In the fourth and final round on Sunday, Phil Mickelson reminded everyone that he was there too. He charged to the top of the leaderboard and wouldn't let go of the top spot once it was his. Six birdies, one eagle and no bogeys later, he had himself an eight-under(-par) final round and his first PGA Tour victory since last April.

And he did it all right in Tiger's face.

Tiger started the day with a shot to take home his first PGA victory in a long while, but he never really got on track. His birdie on the par-five sixth was followed by three straight bogeys, and he was never able to recover. With Mickelson on fire all day long, Tiger quickly became an also-ran.

Mickelson knows what that's like. He's spent the bulk of his career as an also-ran next to Tiger, and he's been an also-ran for the better part of the last year. He's been right in the thick of things in some tournaments, a complete afterthought in others. Much like his golf game itself, Lefty has been unpredictable.

You get the sense that Lefty had taken a backseat in the minds of many golf fans. He is undoubtedly still one of the world's best players, not to mention a fan favorite, but there's a reason he had fallen all the way to 11th in the World Golf Rankings. He just hasn't been all that great recently.

That alone would have been enough to push Lefty down a few notches on the golf word's totem pole of storylines, but the Tiger Woods watch has pushed him down even further. Next to Tiger's ongoing comeback story, Lefty just doesn't quite stack up.

But Lefty made it abundantly clear on Sunday that he's not about to take a step back to clear the way for Tiger. Lefty also reminded everyone that his three-bad-shots-and-one-brilliant-shot style of play can still result in amazing things if the occasion is right. 

It would be a great story if we could take Lefty's win at Pebble Beach as a sign of things to come, but the truth is you never can take anything for granted with Mickelson. Every time we think he's about to get on a roll, he invariably fades quickly into irrelevance at the next tournament. His specialty is getting hot at the right time, not staying hot all the time.

But if Mickelson sent any kind of message on Sunday, it's that nobody should be too quick to forget how good he can be on a given day. He'll always be a big-name player, but nobody should forget that he can also be the best damn player in the field if the circumstances are right and his luck is good.

Now that the Pro-Am is over, things will carry on as they were carrying on. The Tiger watch will still be the main headline in the golf world, with the subhead concerning which rising stars will steal the spotlight at a given tournament. 

But Lefty will always be out there somewhere, watching and waiting to strike.

Suddenly, like an anti-Keyser Soze, poof! He'll be there.