Mickelson's positive attitude paves way for 2011 comeback
SAN DIEGO -- Phil Mickelson has always been able to take the good with the bad, dust himself off after a bad one, not revel too much after a good one.
Playing in his PGA Tour season opener Sunday in front of his hometown peeps, Mickelson almost pulled off a miraculous, theatrical eagle on the final hole of the Farmers Insurance Open that would have forced a playoff with eventual winner Bubba Watson.
After missing by a single shot, the takeaway from this week for Lefty, on the heels of an incredibly complicated 2010 season, was a slightly mixed bag of disappointment and positivity.
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"A little bit of both," he said. "You want me to elaborate?"
No need.
With his wife looking on from the gallery, walking every round with him for the first time since May 2009, Mickelson delivered the first goosebumps in what should be a serious comeback season. At least a dozen times this week, Mickelson has gushed about how upbeat he is about the 2011 season, since his campaign last year fizzled out after his Masters victory.
"I am so excited," he said.
He could also have added, "relieved."
You are not going to hear it from him, or anybody else in the Mickelson camp, but there was a lot more going on in terms of drama last year than anybody wants to address publicly.
"He is so resilient," Amy Mickelson said this weekend of her famous husband. "He is such a glass-is-half-full guy. He always has been."
With his wife and mom already battling breast cancer, Lefty pretty much got his glass kicked, though despite repeated arm twisting, he politely declined to discuss it on the record.
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| Amy Mickelson says her husband is "a glass-is-half-full guy." (US Presswire) |
But it ain't whining if it's true, is it?
Outside of his win at the Masters, last year was an unrelenting series of tribulations. Amy was still eyebrows-deep in her treatments when her husband started feeling aches and pains that migrated to different parts of his body last summer.
All Mickelson would admit this week was that he lost 20 percent of his strength last year while was he was being treated. He now has the affliction under control, although he will likely have to take medication for years, if not forever.
Imagine what his idyllic world was like beforehand and you can understand why he's so giddy about making a fresh start this year.
"His whole life, he's felt like he's been in control," Amy said as she watched her husband play on the weekend. "Then something like this happens, with both of us, and you don’t have the slightest idea what to do."
Imagine being a guy who micro-managed every facet of his life, down to the design of the dimples on his ball, spikes in his shoes and lofts in his clubs, plotted his schedule, juggled his tour life so that he could take his family on road trips, then got smacked in the head by life in general. Like the bumper sticker says, "We plan, god laughs."
"Phil and I always wanted to grow old together," Amy said. "But we never knew it would be at age 38 and 40."
She laughed, because the worst of it seems to be over. She walked all but nine holes with her husband this week and her long-term prognosis is terrific. As for Phil, he finally has a hand on the steering wheel as it relates to his familial life again.
Amazingly, he stomached the carping that accompanied his decision to remain silent about the details of his arthritis issue. As many fans will recall, Mickelson played a stretch last year in which he made more than a dozen straight starts where he had a chance to supplant Tiger Woods as world No. 1, but couldn’t climb the mountain. As ever, folks poked fun at him, unaware that many of the starts came when his arthritis was at its worst.
"I don’t want to get into it," Mickelson said after his third round. "I will say this -- Amy and I are in a very good place right now."
That's been his mantra all week, and no doubt, it's Valhalla compared to last year. Then again, a summer month in Barstow would be better than what they experienced in 2010.
After watching Phil nearly pull a rabbit out of a hat by almost holing a wedge from 72 yards on the final hole, Amy said that Phil seems more excited than he has in years about playing well this spring. Rest assured that nobody in their household is taking anything for granted these days, that's for sure.
"I think the biggest thing is that there's just more predictability," Amy said as Phil signed his card. "We know what to expect. Everything is manageable."
Thus, Mickelson found it pretty easy to shake off the one-stroke near miss at his hometown venue on Sunday, where he has won three times previously, but not since 2001.
"We have a lot of things that have been going our way," he said, "and we're in a better place."
Soon enough, you can bet that place will be a certain, lofty position on the PGA Tour's leaderboard.
One spot higher.
