"The ivory-toothed Mickelson is Mr Middle America, but it may just be that Rory McIlroy is now the third most popular current golfer in the land."

That land would be...not Ireland...yep, America!

At least, if you see what the Euro press contingent has to say.

Now I've acknowledged Rory's talent and perfect swing along with his refreshing humility in an era of spoiled brats, but some of the lads are starting to lose focus here.

Now, Brian Keogh is exempt because he writes for the Irish Times and is expected to report on his man.

Lawrence Donegan receives a final commissioner's exemption because he did not file Sunday after Tiger blessed the chosen one.

But then there's the headline to Mark Reason's final round WGC CA Championship game story: Tiger Woods raves about Rory McIlroy as Phil Mickelson wins

One can't blame the headline writer after reading Reason's story:

It's seldom easy with Mickelson, but the Phillibuster crunched a superlative drive down Doral's brutal final hole and then nearly holed his second shot to close out victory with a touch of class.

The ivory-toothed Mickelson is Mr Middle America, but it may just be that Rory McIlroy is now the third most popular current golfer in the land. McIlroy had slipped out of contention in the final round, but still NBC was showing shots of the 19-year-old. That is the sort of obsessive coverage usually reserved for only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Deep breaths people, deep breaths.

Speaking of NBC coverage that featured several compelling moments, including more epic sound crew work capturing the Bones-Mickelson conversation on No. 12, the SI Golf Group files their weekly serial novel and while I think they read way too much into the Jimmy Roberts-Tiger Woods interview, they do highlight what was one of the more uncomfortable Johnny Miller moments in a day filled with them. Damon Hack writes:

Lots to chew on this week, including a juicy on-air back and forth between Johnny Miller and Roger Maltbiegame's best player. Johnny said if Phil is hitting it 300 yards and straight, he's the best player in the world. Roger said he knew a guy who could beat him — last name Woods. 

There is a need for entertaining give and take, something sorely missing since the demise of ABC's Faldo-Zinger-Tirico setup). But this was downright awkward, with Maltbie actually making sure to not to let Johnny's comment go. Great TV moment for us at home, yet the tone seemed to say: Johnny, you are really out of touch and I'm not going to let you embarrass the rest of us.

Comments

[Ronald Montesano]

Hey, the euros have been down so long, they're hoping against hope. Who ever wanted to cuddle up to Monty or Faldo? McIlroy is that cuddly Euro, hopefully an N.I. Adam Scott with more desire. Lord knows we measure popularity in this country by what NBC shows, and Lord knows that Miami, bastion of all that is traditional and middle america, is our gauge for measuring popularity. Certain ethnic segments of the golfing viewership have doubtless abandoned Villegas, Tiger and KJ Choi in order to root for "Curly."

[OWGR Fan]

The only problem is that Phil rarely hits it 300 AND STRAIGHT. The only reason Phil won this week (and as many do that win in a given week) was hit putting and unreal chipping and pitching. Phils ball striking has regressed under the nearly two years he has been with Butch Harmon. He wins when he has weeks putting and chipping like this week and for two rounds at Riviera. Nobody, not even Tiger --- or Rory M :) ---, putt and chip that well every time they play.

FWIW for those that want to look it up Phil was well down on the driving accuracy and GIR stats this week. His ball striking was simply pederstrian over the course of the entire event. But he won so a tip of the hat to Phil.

[ReverendTMac]

Saw Phil's drive on 18. The only superlative that sprang to mind was "Holy shit, he cleared the water!"

[thusgone]

i thought miller missed an opportunity with maltbie's comeback there. miller's "you have you opinion; i have mine" was lame and a little defensive, i thought. everyone has been down on the supprting cast at nbc for kowtowing to miller and his silly opinions. maltbie stood up to him, and rather than have an entertaining/informative give and take, a la faldo-azinger-tirico, miller chose to go the awkward, closed-minded route.

[OWGR Fan]

Rev I thought Phil was going wide left on his tee shot into the water on 18 yesterday. While I'm not a Phil fan I had the visions/flashbacks of his 4th round tee shot on 18 at Winged Foot and his driver off the deck into Carmel Bay at Pebble a few years back.

[titleist38]

I think this was a bit of a "smoke and mirrors" win for Phil. His lower body is all over the place in his swing. When you chip and putt like he does then you can make an average win look impressive.

[Tighthead]

So Phil now has two unimpressive wins already this year? I guess that is kind of impressive, maybe.

Has any other golfer in history had their wins picked over, critiqued and devalued like he does on a regular basis?

[Old Tom]

This group of posters is hilarious.. what a joke.

Tighthead hits the nail on the head.

If you guys want to just say "I don't like Phil" - that would be fine. To read you absolute know-nothings try and come up with everything that he did wrong on the way to beating the top palyers in the world is a hell-of-a laugh. Just say he's not your favorite player and move on, don't embarrass yourself by trying to twist the facts to support a pre-determined stance.

Phil's GIR = 66.67%
The Field = 62.60%

[Huh]

Old Tom try looking up the correct facts. This week Mickelson.....

was T33 for GIR @ 63.9% and
was T38 for driving Accuracy @ 51.8%

Numbers are taken from pgatour.com

Bottom line is it was average at best ball striking. Those numbers do not lie.

Phil was 2nd in putts per round and 4th in putts per GIR. Phil won because of his short game and in spite of average ball striking.

http://www.pgatour.com/players/00/18/10/scorecards/2009/r473.html

[Smolmania]

Isn't the winner most weeks the guy whose short game is on? Anybody out there think Tiger won at Torrey last June because of any other club than his flat stick? How many feet of putts did he make that week?

At one point early yesterday, at least according to Miller, Tiger was 72nd out of 76 players in putts per GIR, and lo and behold he was 10 shots back. . .

[Ky Laffoon's Ghost]

Yeah. So what regarding Phil's "stats." He wins. A lot. At courses like Riviera and Doral. I wonder, what were Arnie's statistics from 1954-1988? 89 wins (with 8 Majors, including the 1954 US Amateur) is the only one that matters. As I try and try to convince my 17-year-old son who can hit the ball very well: The only thing that matters is how fast you get the damn ball in the hole, not how pretty you look doing it. Not that Phil wins ugly, despite what so many of his critics believe.

[Scottt]

Here's me thinking the aim was to win. Phil won. Again.

Why is it Tiger gets adulation when he wins ugly, praise for his tenacity and grit - yet when Phil does the same he gets torn apart?

Good on him.

[Ray]

Scottt visit some other golf forums/blogs. Tiger gets ripped for every little thing he does. Everything. Phil is now catching some of the same backlash. Guess it's the price of success.

[Tighthead]

Phil is now catching backlash? Now?

Tiger gets ripped for behaviour, but I have never seen much effort to qualify his Ws.

[Old Tom]

Huh, I got my numbers from shot link, maybe they're not right....anyway they don't seem that far off what you have there. Tied for 33rd - out of how many in the field?. Oh and you forgot to post that he was number 1 (one) in birdies, number 2 (two) in putts per round, number 4 in putts per GIR, ...etc.
So basically what you are saying is: If Phil hits a few more fairways he is going to be unbeatable, and I would agree with you.

Ray says:

"Tiger gets ripped for every little thing he does"

Ray can you please show us a link to where Tiger got ripped for winning with his B game or his C game ...etc. I think Scottt is right here, Tiger gets alot of praise for pulling out wins when he is not playing well.

you also say: Phil is now catching some of the same backlash???? I don't know what blogs you read, but Phil has been catching un-warrented criticism from the folks to simply don't like him for a long long long time....

[thusgone]

i think phil might just be unbeatable if he starts hitting a lot of fairways and greens. he sure has won a lot the other way. but, a la rory's no. 1 ranking, we'll just have to see now won't we?

[The Armchair Golfer]

I still can't get over the "Tiger raves about Rory ... " headline. That's hilarious.

In the old days, they didn't have all the stats. They just added up the scores and the guy with the lowest number got the check and trophy. There's only one set of numbers that really counted this week: 65, 66, 69 and 69.

[thusgone]

i have to confess that something about phil turns me off. i can't quite say what it is, but i think it's a whiff of insincerity that comes off him, combined with my perception of his stubbornness w/r/t his approach to the game. i am aware that it is a delicate business trying to tease out what makes a guy great, and sometimes the things that turn us off about premier athletes are part and parcel to their greatness on the playing field.

that said, i do root for phil in big events because he has so much talent, it seems to me he should have won a lot more of them than he has. the fact that he has not won a career slam seems to challenge the rightness of the golfing universe to me.

i especially root for him during majors for the same reason. i also think he is the best candidate for a rival to tiger who will not wilt in the heat of tiger's galleries and persona. i'm grateful to be alive in the tiger era, but i can't say i feel a lot of affection for him either. what i would dearly love is for phil and one or two of the other guys to step up and challenge tiger head-to-head on a regular basis. maybe the brief period of sunlight and oxygen that tiger's layoff afforded the other guys will allow them to grow into p[layers who can hang with him in the heat. i hope so.

[Shankapotamus]

The public persona of someone like Phil Mickelson may or may not accurately reflect who he "really" is. Probably no one here or on any other comment thread is a personal friend of Phil Mickelson. Or Tiger Woods. Or anyone else on the PGA Tour. Every well known golfer must keep some distance from the public. Otherwise he would be unable to function. So, none of use has the knowledge required to state that Phil is a phony. Or insincere. All we know for sure is that he can cause thrills and chills among us spectators when he is on the golf course and can make the occasional seemingly odd comment (e.g., about Tiger's inferior equipment, which was probably a compliment to Tiger given that Tiger kept right on winning with his original Nike irons that were unlikely to be anything other than marginal copies of his previous Titleist blades; at least in public Tiger seemed not to react well. Let's ignore what Tiger did to Fluff, whom he basically stole from Jacobsen, after Fluff made the motel commercial and participated in an innocuous group interview with other Tour caddies). We also know that Phil has a pretty wife and three children. But that's about it when it comes to his personal life. I do know that if I were given the chance to play a round with Phil or Tiger, the choice would be Phil in a heartbeat. Based on his public persona, of course.

[86general]

Well said, Shank.

I think Johnny Miller just likes to stir the pot, and for someone who has sang Tiger's praises for so long, I think he wanted to be a bit contrarian.

Anything can happen, and I don't think anyone doubts Mickelson's immense talent, which, potentially, is enough to eclipse Tiger as number 1.

But to do that, he'd have to beat him, head to head, in a major championship. I can't for the life of me see that ever happening. As I say, it's possible, "on paper," as they say, but I think Phil has too much of a history of losses and lapses in majors, and he's probably too old to be able to overcome that.

I like Mickelson, better than Tiger, and I'd love nothing better than to see Phil beat Tiger in the Masters or the Open, head to head, playing together the final day. But I'd bet just about everything I have that it would never happen.

[pc]

Phil - you either like him or hate him. And if you hate him, you love to hate him. Because of this, any tournament he is in contention to win, is more better. He is fun to watch. He is so gifted yet is also a train wreck waiting because of his go for broke style. FUN FUN FUN I say.