"If Mickelson ever gets wind of these numbers, we may see him retire the white belt for good."

I think Jason Sobel is right, the numbers-cruncher in Phil Mickelson will have a hard time looking past the white belt jinx, as researched by David Axelson in Atlanta:

In five of those rounds the cursed belt was worn, only once was he able to break par -- at Poppy Hills in Round 2 of the AT&T -- for a stroke average of +1.8 compared to a -1.2 season average and -2.3 in dark belt rounds.

In wins, the white belt was only worn for the second round at Riviera, a 1-over 72 after shooting 63 in the first round. No white belts at Doral, although three white shirts -- a decision that may have won him the championship.

At the Masters, he wore the white belt in the first round (1-over 73), but never again, posting scores of 68-71-67 in the final three rounds.

Comments

[thusgone]

contrarian that he is, mickelson's response will be to leave the driver and several irons out of his bag in favor of five white belts.

[RM]

How about just a look in the mirror?

[jonathan knoxville]

I'm with RM. Get a little closer to the mirror.

[OWGR Fan]

And to think Phils poor driving, bad iron shots and awful putting were the reasons his scores stunk in those rounds and it was really an awful looking white belt.

[Harry]

Republicans and white belts go together.

[Irishechoes]

It's not the white belt that is the problem. The problem is that he is not matching his shoes and his belt. Every time he has worn the white belt, he has worn black shoes. He needs to get some white shoes to go with the white belt. Everybody know that. Then you'll see some really low scores.

[The Khaki Crusader]

I know there was jest in that last post, but Phil has worn the white belt and shoes together a few times.

http://www.khakicrusader.com/2009/04/phils-got-white-stuffbaby.html

i think he's actually getting it...he blew the roof off with the never-before-Philled shirt, belt coordination. Looking forward to Round 2 at QH

[Tom Quinn]

Way too much ado about Phil's white belts. It's become a vast waistland. Can't we just move white along?

And yet, if Phil started sporting Navajo-white belts ...

[Stage1350]

It's still a better read than listening to someone whine about rolling back the ball...