Phil Mickelson Ready To Create a Roar of His Own

Had Tiger Woods not shown up back in 1997 and begun his almost immediate domination of the PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson’s career might have been vastly different.

Even non-golf fans would know that this generation of the game is clearly Tiger Woods’ era.

However, if there were no Tiger Woods, the past 18 years or so would have without question been considered ‘Lefty’s’ era.

With 34 wins and three major victories over the past 18 years, Mickelson currently ranks 13th in career wins and is a shoo-in for the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Mickelson, however, has not been without lost opportunities over the years.

Mickelson has melted down in more than his fare share of majors and since Woods’ arrival in 1997, he has appeared to be lacking that drive and competitive edge needed to step up and challenge a dominant force like Tiger Woods.

Although sometimes it’s difficult to remember that Woods is just a man and that it is indeed possible for someone to step up and challenge him, the fact of the matter is that Woods will most likely wind up being the most dominant player in the game’s long and illustrious history, and Phil Mickelson has just had the unfortunate luck of being born within ten years of Tiger Woods.

After an extremely slow start to the 2009 season, Mickelson finally found his game on Thursday by carding a near flawless round of 63, which landed him on top of the leader board.

In Woods absence, Mickelson has been garnering even more attention than he normally would have, and the press have been all over his slow, lackadaisical start to the 2009 season. 

Carding an opening round 63 at Riviera was a huge step in Mickelson’s quest to turn around his '09 campaign.

But, in a development that more or less painted a picture of Mickelson’s career, his day in the sun following his flawless round on Thursday lasted all of a half hour.  

Shortly after Mickelson walked off the course and addressed The Golf Channel’s Inga Hammond with that big smile that his been missing on his face for the past month , Tiger Woods announced that he would be returning to the PGA Tour next week and Mickelson, and the entire Northern Trust Open for that matter, was all but forgotten.

On Friday, Mickelson fired a below average round of 72. It didn’t much matter as Mickelson could have fired a 59 on Friday and it would have still flown way below the radar as the sports world was still reeling from Woods’ announcement.

On Saturday, after two straight days of hearing any and every opinion imaginable on how Tiger Woods would perform next week, golf fans were ready for some new news, which Mickelson provided.

Mickelson created a roar of his own on Saturday afternoon at Riviera by carded a round of 62, which included a putt for 29 on the back nine that would have allowed him to tie the course record at this historic course.

Mickelson started his round on Saturday with an eagle at the par-five first hole. Other than a birdie at the fourth, the rest of Mickelson’s front nine was fairly quiet.

Then, as if someone flipped a switch on his golf game at the turn, Mickelson turned in the type of performance on the back-nine at Riviera that is rarely seen in the game of golf.

Some may call it ‘being in the zone’, others may call it ‘a good groove.’ Whatever the correct phrase may be, Mickelson played the closest one could expect to come to perfect golf on the back-nine.

After birdies at the 10th and 11th, Mickelson strung together consecutive birdies at the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th.

Heading to the 18th hole, Mickelson needed a birdie to tie the course record. 

After a mammoth drive, Mickelson hit a wedge to within 10 feet but played slightly too much break on his birdie putt before tapping in for par. Although the course record eluded him on Saturday, the tournament lead did not.

Mickelson will begin his final round with a four stroke lead over Andres Romero. 

Most of the golf world thought that Mickelson would have been the guy to step up and benefit the most from Woods’ absence last year.

However, at the exact time Woods’ went down with his knee injury, Mickelson was struggling with one of the worst slumps of his career.

Now, just days before Woods’ return, Mickelson finally appears ready to create a roar of his own.