Too bad most of us can't read lips.
Two years ago at the championship ceremony at Augusta National, as Phil Mickelson was slipping the trademark green Masters jacket onto newly crowned winner Tiger Woods' shoulders, Lefty couldn't help but provide an unsolicited, running narrative.
Professionals to the end, both continued to beam for the phalanx of cameras as Lefty offered a few left-handed compliments about Woods' playoff victory over Chris DiMarco. As the story goes, the Mickelson monologue was peppered with observations akin to, "I thought he had you when you bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18 ... Man, how lucky was that chip-in on the 16th?"
You get the gist of the grist -- as Woods certainly did. Through bared and smiling teeth, Woods whispered, "Just shut up and give me the jacket, Phil."
Fightin' words, huh? It's again time to remove the jackets and step outside, where bully boys Mickelson and Woods have ruled the alley called Magnolia Lane like nobody in four decades.
Between them, Lefty and Righty have given the Masters a 1-2 punch comparable only to icons Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who combined to win six titles in a seven-year span starting in 1960. Woods and Mickelson have won five of the past six green jackets and rightly are the overwhelming favorites of online bookmakers, going off at 7-5 and 8-1 odds.
Say what you will about the dated, kelly-green color of the Masters outerwear -- the cut of the cloth of Woods and Mickelson has never been more fashionable.
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| Say What? Who knows what Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods had to say to each other two years ago. (Getty Images) |
"I have a couple of theories, but nothing I really want to dive into or share," Mickelson said.
Actually, the reasons behind their success aren't so much hazy theory as indisputable fact. No other major championship has produced such a truncated list of winners, with only Mike Weir interrupting the Woods-Mickelson string in 2003. All Weir did was make enough putts to circumnavigate the Bobby Jones Expressway, which encircles much of the city. Which, for the field's many short- and medium-length players, is precisely what it takes to keep up with Mickelson and Woods.
"I know I had to putt my butt off," DiMarco said.
It's probably no coincidence that when club officials began stretching the course, Mickelson and Woods began to pull away from their shorter-knocking brethren like Weir and DiMarco. After Woods won in 2001, completing the Tiger Slam, Augusta National went to work. From a puny 6,985 yards in 2001, it has been lengthened to a robust 7,445, making it the fourth-longest sea-level course in annual use on the PGA Tour.
You want irony? Former club chairman Hootie Johnson sat in a golf cart watching play a few years back, tracking where players were bashing drivers on key holes and was left slack-jawed at Mickelson's length off the tee. Of course, after the changes, the longest hitters had an even greater advantage. When Woods outdueled DiMarco two years ago, he was hitting 8-iron shots into the 18th green while DiMarco was hitting 4-iron.
