In some ways, Mickelson better than ever
CARLSBAD, Calif. -- The name is familiar. The dimplish smile is the same. But the game is different.
There are some similarities between the Phil Mickelson who had won 21 PGA Tour events going into this season and the Phil Mickelson who hasn't been pushed in three matches in the $7 million Accenture Match Play Championship.
He can still produce birdies in bulk, as if he were sponsored by Sam's Club. But the reason that Mickelson won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic last month and will play Davis Love III in the quarterfinals Saturday at the La Costa Resort and Spa is that Mickelson's game is not just different. It's better.
"I think that I've been playing better than I ever have, for the reason that I'm driving the ball in the fairway now," Mickelson said Friday afternoon after beating Ben Curtis 7 and 6 and Chris DiMarco 3 and 2. "I missed three fairways today out of 21 fairway attempts, which for me is exceptional."
The Mickelson-Love match is the best of the four quarterfinals. The others will pair Jerry Kelly, who upset Vijay Singh in the second round, against 2000 Match Play champion Darren Clarke of Northern Ireland; 2003 U.S. Open runner-up Stephen Leaney of Australia against Ian Poulter of England; and Padraig Harrington of Ireland against defending champion Tiger Woods.
The 18-hole quarterfinal matches will be played Saturday morning. The four winners will play Saturday afternoon. The winners will play a 36-hole final on Sunday for the championship and the $1.2 million check that goes with it.
Of the 14 World Golf Championship individual events over the last five years, Woods has won seven. Clarke is the only other multiple winner, with two.
The power of Woods works in mysterious ways. It's one thing for him to play well, which he did on Friday when he raised his career record in this event to 17-3. It's quite another for his opponents to self-destruct.
Fredrik Jacobson won his first two matches over Phillip Price and Thomas Bjorn by identical 5-and-4 margins, which is match-play-ese for "butt-kicking." The Swedish star made a total of one bogey in those two matches. He made five in the first 12 holes of his match against Woods, and never threatened the defending champion in being on the wrong end of one of those 5-and-4 margins.
John Rollins shot a 75 in his 1-up loss to Woods in the opening round, while Trevor Immelman went 1-over in his 5-and-4 loss on Friday morning.
"I think what's important is I kept the pressure on my opponent all day," Woods said Friday.
It could be the pressure. When Woods doesn't make a mistake, his opponent begins to realize he can't make one. It could also be the luck of the draw. None of his opponents has played under par. Robert Allenby, on the other hand, played 23 holes in 4-under Friday morning and lost his second-round match to Adam Scott.
Woods didn't buy it. Of his opponents' high scores, he said, "It goes to how difficult this golf course is. If you drive the ball in the rough, you can't get to the green."
Which brings us back to Mickelson, who on Friday made it five-for-five top-10 finishes in 2004. He always could take a sand wedge, pop the ball in the air and make it land softer than a Jamie Moyer fastball. He always had great recovery skills. The problem was that he developed them because he had a lot of practice. Someone asked him about the fact that he had made a total of two bogeys in three matches.
"For the most part, because I've kept it in play, the course seems so much easier," Mickelson said. "You would think after 33 years, I would figure that out more."
Thank you, you've been a great audience.
Mickelson is laughing more, certainly more than he did in 2003, by his standards a forgettable year. He had no victories, and only one top-three finish. Though he ended up 38th on the money list, Mickelson bottomed out at the Presidents Cup in November, where he played five matches and lost every one.
He waited until the new year to begin rehabbing his game.
I didn't want to work on anything in '03," Mickelson said. "I wanted to start fresh in '04 and things have started to click."
His longtime mentor Rick Smith has worked with him, and so has short-game guru Dave Pelz. Mickelson is driving in the fairway, and, he says, his distance control from 150 yards and in is better than it has ever been.
"I haven't seen him play or played with him," said Love, who fought off a cold while breezing through matches against Fred Couples (3 and 2) and Adam Scott (4 and 3). "Obviously, he's playing well. I talked to him at In & Out Burger yesterday for a while. He's a determined guy. He was a great teammate at the Presidents Cup but he didn't play very good. He was in a zone where he didn't really know what was going on. He decided he wasn't going to play like that anymore."
Mickelson also looks slimmer than he has in years, thanks to a new workout regimen that he has taken more seriously.
"He had his burger without a bun," Love said. "Maybe that's the secret. I'll try that tonight."
Low carb, low scores. Mickelson won two Mercedes Championships at La Costa before the tournament moved to Maui. He lives 10 minutes away from the resort. Winning here could feel the same -- but as Mickelson has proven over the first two months of the season, his game is different.
Ivan Maisel is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.
