Phil Mickelson Makes a Solid Return to the PGA Tour

Several weeks ago, Phil Mickelson and his family received the type of news that every family knows is possible, but they just hope and pray that it doesn’t happen to them—particularly not at such a young age.

Phil Mickelson’s wife, Amy, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The doctors believe they have caught the cancer early, which is by far the most important step in successfully fighting off the disease and is a very encouraging sign for the Mickelson family.

But, they won’t know for sure until more testing is completed and Amy undergoes surgery on July 1st.

Moved by the immeasurable level of support they have received from everyone involved with the PGA Tour, Phil, Amy and their three young children seem to be doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances.

“Amy and I thought that a couple weeks ago at the Colonial is one of the nicest things that we've ever seen. It came at an incredible time for us. We're very lucky to be a part of this group of Tour players," Mickelson said on Wednesday at his press conference in Memphis.

"I think the PGA Tour is comprised of some of the classiest individuals in all of sports. I think their wives are incredible ladies. Over the years, we're very lucky to have developed some great friendships out here on Tour. The show of support they gave us at Colonial, all the people at Colonial, Fort Worth, it was incredibly meaningful. I don't know how to express the emotions that we felt because of that. It was just a very special thing for us. We feel very fortunate to be a part of this Tour.”

On Wednesday, Mickelson also spoke about how he and his family where trying to create a sense of normalcy despite the difficult situation they are facing.  And normal for Phil Mickelson means playing golf.

“We don't have anything going on for three weeks. We have a family vacation coming up in a couple weeks right after the Open. These are tough—these next three weeks are kind of tough for us to pass because there's nothing do until we get started. So we're trying to just do everything the same as we would, whether it's playing tournaments, getting the kids in camp, having play-dates with other kids. We're trying to do all the normal stuff.”

Although Mickelson and his family seem to be handling this incredibly tough situation well, perhaps some anger and rage had quietly built up deep inside of Phil Mickelson over the past few weeks, because Mickelson unleashed one mammoth drive after another yesterday at TPC Southwind.

It was as if that tiny little white ball sitting motionless on the tee was the cause of all of Mickelson’s troubles, and he unleashed the full weight of his fury on it.

Mickelson averaged 335 yards off the tee on Thursday, which ranked first in the field by a large margin.

As far as scoring, Mickelson’s had a bit of a roller coaster round.

Starting on the tenth tee, Mickelson birdied his first two holes before recording a bogey at the 14th, a birdie at the 16th and a double bogey at the par-four 18th when he found the water with his tee shot.

“It was the only really bad swing I made,” Mickelson said of his drive on the 18th.

Mickelson settled down on the back nine, where he recorded just one bogey and three birdies, including back-to-back birdies at the 7th and 8th holes which could give him some momentum heading into the second round.

“It was a good way to get started. It had a chance to be a low round because I made a couple early birdies, but I finished with some birdies late to get it back to 2-under. I'm pleased with the start. It's certainly not going to be on top of the leaderboard, but it didn't hurt me any,” Mickelson said following his opening round of 68 which left him four strokes behind the leader, Brian Gay.

Mickelson will have to play a little better this afternoon if he wants to contend on the weekend.

But, no matter what happens this week in Memphis or next week at Bethpage, Phil Mickelson will continue to be the sentimental favorite and he and his family will continue to have the full support of everyone who is in any way involved with the PGA Tour.

Sometimes there are a lot more important things in life than hitting a little white ball at 18 flag sticks protruding from the ground.

But, as Phil said himself, he wouldn't be playing this week or next if he didn't believe he could win.