He may rest on these laurels for now
Mickelson hints that he'll skip next event
NORTON - Hey, great place, said Phil Mickelson. The free-swinging lefthander spent a couple of days in Kennebunkport early last week, had a choice seat at Fenway Park when rookie Clay Buchholz fired his no-hitter Saturday, and yesterday he survived an electrifying round of cat-and-mouse with Tiger Woods and scampered out of TPC Boston with $1,260,000 worth of
When it was over, Lefty gushed about the New England environs, and noted how exciting it has been to play in the inaugural
But as excited as he sounded, as much as he smiled, and as bright as his baby blues twinkled, the 37-year-old Mickelson also sounded as if he'll be home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., when Round 3 of the FedEx Cup plays out in suburban Chicago this weekend. All of which can't be good news for the new format that already has the golf faithful enrolling in remedial math classes just to understand the FedEx point standings.
"I want to have balance in my life," said Mickelson, noting that the start of school this week is an important few days in the Mickelson household, which includes wife Amy and three children, ages 4, 5, and 8. "And I certainly feel an obligation to play and support the FedEx Cup, the [PGA] tournament, and to support the PGA Tour, support the game of golf. I also want to have a balance in my family life, so I'm not sure how it's all going to play out."
There is a bit of a back story here. In the months and years leading up the structuring of FedExmania, Mickelson tried to impress upon PGA commissioner Tim Finchem the need for making it a manageable fit into a very crammed PGA schedule. The tour's four majors, plus other high-profile tournaments, allow for little down time, and Mickelson, now with 32 tour victories and more than $45 million in career earnings, typically eases off his schedule by the end of August.
"It's not the four FedEx tournaments," he explained, deftly structuring a case that points to his taking a playoff bye. "It's the PGA [Championship], Akron right before that, only four days off after the British Open before we had to travel, and playing two weeks before that - so it's been the last three months having no more than two days off at a time, and working to do corporate outings in between.
"So our [family] time has struggled, and I want to have a balance there."
Given the recent parade of horribly flawed athletes - hello, Michael Vick and Rodney Harrison, just to name two - not even the most passionate FedEx-head will fault Mickelson for seeking out the Barcalounger while the rest of golf's elite chase the playoff's $10 million first-place carrot ($3 million in lettuce to the runner-up).
Not to be forgotten is that Woods issued his own bye when the FexEd Cup opened the week before Boston with the Barclays in Harrison, N.Y. If Mickelson skips Chicago, he'll be even with Woods for byes, and like Woods, he'll still have a chance to win it.
Emboldening Mickelson to stay home this week is the fact, he made clear, that he brought up his grave concerns regarding the schedule long ago with Finchem.
"My frustration from this past year came from asking for a couple of things in the FedEx Cup that weren't done," he revealed. "And [I'm] not really feeling all that bad now if I happen to miss [the Chicago stop]."
The FedEx Cup is gaining momentum and recognition, and Finchem may have cobbled together his own little World Series, but he'll have to avoid the no-show embarrassments for it to gain a legit spot on the sports calendar.
"I think there is always going to be skeptics," noted Arron Oberholser, who finished in three-way tie for second. "But I'm starting to turn in the other direction. I was kind of a skeptic myself in how it was going to work out, and you know, what makes the playoffs the playoffs are days like [yesterday]. Just playing, I felt privileged to be part of this and have a chance to win."
The excitement is generated not by the venue, or even by the payoff, but by the level of competition. It's about trying to beat the best, and as hard as the best are to beat, they are all the harder to beat when they are sitting home.
