Costa del Sol Golf

A week that began with Phil Mickelson eyeing the top spot in the world rankings ended prematurely on Friday when he missed the cut by a significant margin at the Colonial Invitational.  

On an ideal day for scoring at Colonial Country Club, the American left-hander battled to a three-over-par 73 in the second round to languish near the bottom of the leaderboard.

Mickelson, who would have replaced Tiger Woods as world number one for the first time with victory this week, bogeyed three of his last seven holes to lie a distant six strokes off the projected cutline.

“I played terrible,” the four-times Major champion said after recording five bogeys and two birdies in calm, hot conditions. “The course is in great shape.

“There was no wind and there were a ton of birdies out there. And I didn’t make have many of them. I thought my game was sharper.

“This was a good barometer, though,” Mickelson said after posting a four-over total of 144. “This starts my run into the (June 17-20) U.S. Open. It tells me that I have a lot of work to do.”

Mickelson, who clinched his fourth Major at last month’s U.S. Masters, had not missed a cut on the US PGA Tour since last year’s Houston Open, a run of 21 events.

“I thought I was playing really well,” the world number two said. “I had some good practice sessions at home. As it turned out, I’m a little bit rustier than I thought.

“I didn’t drive it very well. I didn’t hit many good iron shots. I’ll get home, get some practice in and see if I can get this thing turned around.”

Mickelson, a short game magician, has produced a glittering career resume including 38 US Tour titles but he has never topped the world rankings.

Asked this week whether he was surprised the number one spot had eluded him since he turned professional in 1992, he replied: “I don’t know how to answer that.

“I would say 13 of those years were in Tiger years. It hasn’t been the easiest.”

Woods has been world number one for the last 259 weeks, and an overall total of 601

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Phil Mickelson (lefty) wins the US Masters as once again Englands Lee Westwood stall’s at the main event.

Phil Mickelson became the thrill-maker once again, pouncing for a third Masters victory in seven years to leave Lee Westwood a nearly man once again.

Champion at Augusta in 2004 and 2006 and with a US PGA title in between, Mickelson put a dreadful start to the season behind him to win by three shots from the Englishman - with a 16 under par total of 272.

Westwood, unable to hold onto the last day lead, already had third place finishes in the US Open, Open and US PGA, but now he has come third, third and second in the last three majors.

A one under 71 was never likely to complete the job and, sure enough, Mickelson shot a bogey-free 67 - and then went into one of the longest televised hugs with wife Amy.

And no wonder. Last May she was diagnosed with breast cancer and her battle goes on. This was her first visit to a tournament since the diagnosis last May.

Although Tiger Woods equalled a Masters record with four eagles in his first tournament back for almost five months - two of them came in his rollercoaster closing 69 for joint fourth place - the headlines will go quite rightly to the left-hander.

It started as the week Woods came back to golf, but it ended as the week when Mickelson proved again he is the world number one’s biggest rival.

With a pink breast cancer badge in his cap to remind people of the battles both his wife and mother have been fighting, Mickelson captured his fourth major in scintillating fashion.

And two shots above all others will be replayed over and over when the story of this incredible week is retold.

First there was his eagle two on the 14th in the third round as he moved one behind Westwood entering the closing 18 holes.

But that was trumped by his second shot to the long 13th on Sunday.

One ahead of KJ Choi after the Korean had just taken a bogey six there, Mickelson hit his drive through the fairway into the trees and onto the pine straw.

In front of him was a gap of no more than four feet between two trunks, but in the manner for which he has become known Mickelson decided to go for the 200-yard shot over Rae’s Creek.

Spectacularly - even he showed that by raising his club in triumph and then punching the air - he hit it to four feet.

It warranted his third eagle of the week there, but although he missed the putt Choi bogeyed the 14th as well.

Westwood, though, matched Mickelson’s birdie to stay two back and still had hopes of making his 50th attempt to win a major the one when he finally broke through.

But the Worksop golfer, with third place finishes to his name in the US Open, Open and US PGA, could not match Mickelson’s two-putt birdie at the long 15th.

Westwood needed something special after that. He could not become the third player to hole-in-one at the 16th on the day, but he did birdie the 17th and Mickelson’s five-footer there was badly needed.

It gave him a two-shot lead rather than just on the final tee and once Westwood had missed his 25-foot birdie putt Mickelson holed from eight for a birdie which put the icing on the cake.

Mickelson commented: “It feels incredible. I could go on and on, so many reasons why, and it’s the most amazing feeling.

“This has been a special day, something I will always cherish.

“It’s been a emotional year and I am very proud of my wife and the fight and struggle she has been through.

“This is one of the best things we have gone through in the last year. We’ve been through a lot and it’s been tough and to be on the other end and feel this kind of jubilation is incredible.”

Westwood said: “We both struggled off the tee early on, but being the great champion he is Phil hit some great shots. The second on 13 was incredible.

“He has been through a hard time and deserves a break or two.

“I just need to keep on doing what I am doing. One of these days the door is going to open for me, but there was time (he slumped from fourth in the world to outside the top 250 in 2002) when I didn’t want to go out and play or practise and couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

“When I am playing like this I feel like a lucky man sometimes. I think when you have come as close as this there is a tinge of disappointment, but that does not last too long.”

Woods, who mixed his two eagles and four birdies with five bogeys, stated: “As the week went on I hit the ball worse.”

Fourth, of course, was no mean feat given his lay-off and all the attention on his sex scandal, but he added: “I only enter events to win.”

He also said he will now take “a little time off and re-evaluate.” His next appearance could well be the Players Championship in Florida at the start of next month.

Mickelson’s fellow American Anthony Kim, last week’s Houston Open winner, charged into third place with a joint best-of-the-day 65 that included a birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie run from the 13th.

Woods shared fourth with Choi, while Westwood’s compatriot Ian Poulter, the joint halfway leader with him, tied for 10th after weekend rounds of 74 and 73 which were a big disappointment.

Collated final round scores & totals in The Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC, Augusta, Georgia, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 72):

272 Phil Mickelson 67 71 67 67

275 Lee Westwood (Eng) 67 69 68 71

276 Anthony Kim 68 70 73 65

277 Tiger Woods 68 70 70 69, K J Choi (Kor) 67 71 70 69

279 Fred Couples 66 75 68 70

280 Nick Watney 68 76 71 65

281 Hunter Mahan 71 71 68 71, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 67 72 72 70

283 Ricky Barnes 68 70 72 73, Ian Poulter (Eng) 68 68 74 73

285 Jerry Kelly 72 74 67 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 75 72 66

286 Steve Marino 71 73 69 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 73 72 72, David Toms 69 75 71 71, Ryan Moore 72 73 73 68

287 Adam Scott (Aus) 69 75 72 71, Tom Watson 67 74 73 73, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 73 75 68, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 73 74 69 71, Heath Slocum 72 73 70 72, Scott Verplank 73 73 73 68

288 Ben Crane 71 75 74 68, Matt Kuchar 70 73 74 71

289 Kenny Perry 72 71 72 74, Bill Haas 72 70 71 76, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 74 72 69 74

290 Yuta Ikeda (Jpn) 70 77 72 71

291 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 71 75 75, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 74 75 72, Steve Stricker 73 73 74 71, Sean O’Hair 72 71 72 76, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)69 76 72 74, Jason Dufner 75 72 75 69

292 Lucas Glover 76 71 71 74, Metteo Manassero (Ita) 71 76 73 72

294 Dustin Johnson 71 72 76 75, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 74 71 76 73, Steve Flesch 75 71 70 78, Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 72 71 77

295 Zach Johnson 70 74 76 75

296 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 72 77 76, Mike Weir (Can) 71 72 76 77

298 Chad Campbell 79 68 80 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 72 75 78 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 74 70 76 78

302 Nathan Green (Aus) 72 75 80 75

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Scott McCarron has reiterated his belief US PGA Tour players should not use Ping-Eye 2 wedges with square grooves as this amounted to cheating under United States Golf Association rules.

In a statement issued on Monday, McCarron also said he never accused Phil Mickelson of being a cheat although he was appalled by his fellow American’s decision to use a 20-year-old Ping wedge at last week’s San Diego Open.

The verbal spat between the pair dominated the first two rounds of the US PGA Tour event with world number two Mickelson hinting he might take legal action for being “publicly slandered”.

On Monday, McCarron said on his website: “After two days of carefulcontemplation I have decided to release this statement in hopes of setting the record straight.

“On January 28th I was interviewed by Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle. Ron asked me what I thought about ‘Phil and a couple other guys playing the old Ping-Eye 2’s’.

“I responded: ‘It’s cheating and I am appalled Phil has put it in play’. Despite contrary reports by the media, both in print and on TV, I never called Phil Mickelson a cheater.

“That being said, I want my fans, sponsors and most importantly my fellow players to know I will not be silenced. I will continue my efforts to get the groove issue resolved.”

McCarron, a veteran of 16 years on the US PGA Tour and a member of the circuit’s player advisory council, urged the Tour to institute a rule to ban the 20-year-old Ping wedges.

He added: “Most of the players on the PGA Tour feel the loophole in this rule needs to be closed.

“I think we should focus on the overwhelming majority of US PGA Tour professionals who chose to do the right thing and play clubs with legal grooves. I applaud them.

“I am still appalled by the fact any player would make the choice to put this controversial wedge in play and I stand by my previous comments.”

As of January 1, new rules relating to club-face grooves were implemented at the top level after research found modern configurations could allow players to generate almost as much spin with irons from the rough as from the fairway.

All clubs, with the exception of drivers and putters, have been affected by the change which limits groove volume and groove-edge sharpness, effectively replacing U-grooves with V-grooves.

The Ping-Eye 2 wedge used last week by Mickelson and a handful of other players, although containing square grooves, is deemed legal because of a lawsuit won by its manufacturer over the USGA in 1990.

US PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem is scheduled to discuss the grooves dispute with players on Tuesday in the build-up to this week’s Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.

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Phil Mickelson tried to emulate Jack Nicklaus by taking a conservative approach in the opening round of the San Diego Open at Torrey Pines and was satisfied after carding a two-under-par 70.

The American left-hander, the top draw at Torrey Pines this week in the conspicuous absence of world number one Tiger Woods, recorded five birdies and three bogeys after tackling the more difficult South Course.

“I’ll take a couple under on the South Course,” San Diego native Mickelson said after finishing six strokes off the lead in his first competitive round of the year.

“I played a little cautious today, trying to not make too many mistakes (to) keep myself in it because tomorrow the North is a course that provides the opportunity to shoot a low round.”

The scoring average on the brutal 7,698-yard South Course was 72.769 on Thursday, more than 2.5 shots tougher than on the 6,986-yard North layout.

“I want to work my way in the tournament,” said Mickelson, a three-times winner of the US Tour event who lives in nearby Rancho Santa Fe.

“Nicklaus used to talk about that in majors, that he wanted to try to progress as the week went along. I didn’t want to try to come out and win the tournament on Thursday because it’s just not possible.

“I wanted to try to build into it, so I’m hoping I play better tomorrow and shoot a low score on the North, good enough to get myself in contention for the weekend.

“The North is where you can make up some ground. The par-fives are reachable and there are some shorter par-fours where you can take advantage.”

Although Mickelson totalled 33 putts in the opening round with three lip-outs, he was happy with his overall play after making birdies on all four par-fives.

“I thought I drove it pretty well,” the 39-year-old said.

“I missed a couple of fairways but I was able to take advantage of the par-fives because I played some good drives in the fairway.

“The South is difficult because it’s playing long and it’s hard to get the ball close. The greens are spongy and balls seem to kind of get deflected away with all the contours.”

Mickelson, a 37-times winner on the PGA Tour, is bidding for his first victory at Torrey Pines since 2001.

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