Hail to the lefty

At first glance, you would say it had to be just a casual day, with very little pressure for a PGA Tour megastar. But when your host is the former president of the United States and loves to remind you what others have shot at the course, well, the challenge is real for Phil Mickelson.

The fact that the lefthander met the challenge in a round of golf Oct. 2 was the highlight of George Bush's season up at his favorite golf course, Cape Arundel GC in Kennebunkport, Maine, a 5,881-yard gem that dates to 1896 and requires precision shot-making into small, undulating greens.

Mickelson dazzled those in his group -- Bush, PGA Tour star Justin Leonard, and Maine amateur legend Mark Plummer -- with a course-record 60 that included nine birdies, including six straight starting at the par-5 ninth.

``It was something to see -- very impressive," said Plummer, who had shared the course record of 62 with a trio of vaunted names: Brad Faxon (three times), Fred Couples, and David Toms. Since they are frequent guests of the former president, it is pretty much a standard challenge for them to try to go deeper, as it has been for other PGA Tour guests, Davis Love being one such luminary.

That's what made Mickelson's effort so superb; he knew all along what he was being challenged to do, because he's been there before.

It hardly began like a record-setter, for Mickelson was just 2 under through eight holes ``and he missed a 2 1/2-footer for birdie at the sixth," said Plummer. Then came a stretch of six straight birdies in front of about 30 interested spectators. At the par-4 18th, Mickelson had it to 15 feet and needed only to two-putt for 61 and set the course record.

Everyone knew what was at stake, just as Faxon did a few summers ago when he had a 2-footer to shoot 61. Faxon missed the putt and later said he couldn't believe how much pressure he felt, for his host made sure everyone in the clubhouse came out to watch. ``They didn't give me a thing, nothing," said Faxon. ``Then Plummer told me, `They gave me a few longer than yours.' "

It is all part of the Cape Arundel experience with the former president, a lifelong golf fan. So Mickelson lined up his 15-footer, needing two putts for the record. But he used just one, and Bush wasted little time spreading the news. His first contact was Faxon, who got an e-mail.

``He couldn't wait to tell me," said Faxon.

The former president told Faxon that Mickelson had achieved history ``with witnesses," and that he had had a partner ``who didn't help one shot -- though he didn't seem to mind."