I have to confess, I did not see Phil Mickelson contending at The Northern Trust this week (or any playoff event, for that matter). Lefty is 48 years old, has only made one of the last four Tour Championships (top 30 in the FedEx Cup rankings) and hasn't played his best golf of late.

And yet here we are after 36 holes with Mickelson contending at Ridgewood Country Club in the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Lefty shot his second straight 68 on Friday and got to 6 under, within one of Patrick Cantlay's 7-under lead after the Friday morning wave.

It actually looked like it was going to be better than that for a while. Lefty got it all the way to 8 under with a series of six birdies and just one bogey over his first 11 holes (including four straight birdies to start his round!), but two bogeys at the very end dropped him back to the 3-under 68 and 6 under overall for the tournament.

Mickelson drove the ball magnificently on Friday and picked up two strokes on the field from tee to green after breaking even on Thursday in that category. 

Even if he doesn't go on to win, it's already been a banner week for Mickelson. He joined Twitter (which is amazing and hilarious), and the big money match (appropriately dubbed "The Match") between he and Tiger Woods was confirmed. They will play for $9 million over Thanksgiving.

Winning a playoff event for the first time since 2009 would be icing on the cake for Lefty this week. Heck, even contending with a board that includes Cantlay, Tony Finau, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka in the lead up to the Ryder Cup a month from now would do some good for Mickelson. 

He hasn't finished in the top 10 at a PGA Tour event since May and struggled at all four majors this year. That win at the WGC-Mexico Championship in March feels eons away, but Mickelson can bookend it nicely with another one (or even a top-10 finish) this weekend at The Northern Trust.