Phil Mickelson Comes from behind To Win Second Consecutive Northern Trust Open

Starting the day with a four-stroke cushion atop the leaderboard, betting on anyone other than Phil Mickelson to win the Northern Trust Open would have been somewhat of a risk. Then again, this is Phil Mickelson we are talking about.

By the turn, Mickelson had squandered his four-stroke lead and, as he walked off the 10th green, he was down by a stroke to the tournament’s new leader, Steve Stricker.

Following another bogey at the 14th, Mickelson saw his four-stroke lead turn into a two-stroke deficit with just four holes to play.

One couldn’t help but think that Mickelson had actually done it again. He had lost control of yet another tournament he seemed to have firmly in the palm of his hand.

As Mickelson walked off the 14th green facing a two-stroke deficit just hours after he had begun the day confidently with a four-stroke lead, he appeared to be golf’s version of one of Shakespeare’s tragic characters.

But then we saw Mickelson do something that we have seen many times throughout his career—he came back from the depths of defeat.

Mickelson birdied the 16th and 17th and with a little help from Stricker, who bogeyed the 18th, he teed off on the 72nd hole, needing just a par to win.

Steering clear from his erratic driver, Mickelson sent a perfectly struck three-wood down the center of the fairway, leaving him with 213 yards left to the hole.

Facing a tough back-left pin placement, which was protected by a sand trap in front and thick kikuya rough behind, Mickelson once again went for the safe route and attempted to play a power fade to the center of the green.

Once again, Mickelson kept fans on edge by leaving his approach shot right of the green, where he faced a difficult up-and-down for the win.

Making things even more interesting, Mickelson left his pitch shot about five feet short of the hole.

Knowing that Mickelson has melted down in the past and could very well do so again, Stricker went running for the driving range after seeing Mickelson leave his chip a good five feet short.

Stricker had just made it to the practice range when he heard the thunderous roars resulting from Mickelson’s par putt falling into the hole, thus securing his second straight victory at the Northern Trust Open.

Ideally, he would have liked to hold on to the four-stroke lead he began the day with, and possibly built upon it, by closing out the tournament in a dominant way.

But winning any PGA Tour event is quite an accomplishment, particularly a tournament with a field as strong as the Northern Trust Open.

It probably wasn’t the path to victory Mickelson had imagined or hoped for, but either way, he has created his own roar just days prior to Tiger Woods’ much-anticipated return to the PGA Tour.