Phil's Driving Drop

Thomas Bonk considers the state of Phil Mickelson's game after his 20th place finish at Doral, and you have to think that this will be straining Phil's relationship with Butch Harmon at some point:

Mickelson has found only 55% of his fairways, down slightly from 2007 and far off his 62.9% in 2004 when he won the Masters for the first time.

He's also averaging 292.3 yards in driving distance, more than eight yards shorter than in 2006 when he won the Masters for the second time.

"Depending on what survives the editing room, these promise to be funnier"

Larry Dorman reports that the new Phil Mickelson ad campaign for Crowne Plaza aspires to deliver something last year's roundtable discussions managed to avoid: laughs.

Generating the lines for the laughs was the star, Phil Mickelson, whose sometimes barbed, often self-deprecating sense of humor has been confined to the relative privacy of PGA Tour locker rooms, pro-am pairings and interview rooms. His audience will grow considerably now that Crowne Plaza, which last April started a series of amusing, golf-themed ads, is shooting a new batch starring Mickelson for release this April.

Depending on what survives the editing room, these promise to be funnier than last year’s six 30-second and three 15-second spots of unscripted banter from golf celebrities, moderated by Feherty.

Love the quote from Phil:

“I like doing this,” Mickelson said. “The gist of the humor is self-deprecating, which I like. It gives me a chance to laugh at myself in different settings. And I get to work with Feherty, who is really hilarious. Honestly, I’d rather be out playing tournament golf, but this is a different and challenging part of the game that every top player has to deal with.”

Ah the burdens of being on top...filming cutesy ads. 

"What's happened, Doug, is the golf ball is going farther."

I thought this was a good question from Doug Ferguson after Saturday's third round at Riviera, but because Phil Mickelson was anxious to get on Mickelson Airship 1, he poo-pooed the question a bit.

Still, at least he says it's the ball...

Q. Curious on 10, if conditions notwithstanding, it seems like 3-wood is the choice for most of the power hitters. When did that become the case? Has it ever been driver, and have you noticed over the years driver no longer being a choice?

PHIL MICKELSON: What's happened, Doug, is the golf ball is going farther. So when we used to hit drivers, we now are hitting 3-woods. (Laughter).

Phil Inks Hat Deal So We Don't Have To Keep Wondering When He's Going To Get A Haircut

Going back to his roots with KPMG, Phil Mickelson vetted the tax-shelter fraud specialists before signing a three year deal.

“I’m equally proud to join with KPMG,” said Mickelson.  “After talking to its leadership, I came away convinced that KPMG is passionately focused on ‘being the best,’ through building a culture based on professionalism and integrity.  It’s that culture and the shared passion to be the best that drew me to this relationship. I’ll be bringing everything that I can to our relationship, both on and off the golf course. I want to be sure that KPMG, its partners, its professionals and its clients enjoy the full benefit of our relationship.”

“Phil commands a great deal of respect around the world and shares our dedication to giving back to the community, with a particular focus on education and improving the lives of children,” Flynn said. “And we are in good company when it comes to other companies that are associated with Phil – Rolex, Callaway and ExxonMobil.”

As part of his agreement, Mickelson will be available to appear at an agreed-upon number of KPMG-sponsored marketing events, client meetings and local office events, as well as advertising opportunities.

Oh yeah, he's going to earn his money. 

"If the tour can change courses to get Tiger, they could do the same for Phil. It would save The Hope."

Tim Rosaforte says he'd rather hang in Abu Dabi than the desert this week, offering this Classic Club related quote from Joe Ogilvie:

"What's somewhat frustrating is that the player directors have almost zero power over venue," Ogilvie said. "No matter how much we say we feel like we're making a mistake going to these golf courses, it kind of falls on deaf ears."

More powerful though was Rosaforte pointing out the irony of this week's Westchester-to-Ridgewood-to-appease-Tiger-move, and the likely permanent loss of Mickelson from the Hope as long as they stay at the Classic Club:

If the tour can change courses to get Tiger, they could do the same for Phil. It would save The Hope.

Phil Chooses To Study Classic Club Course Changes From Safe Confines of Rancho Santa Fe

Larry Dorman reports:

Mickelson will be skipping the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which starts Jan. 16, for the first time since 2001, and there is sure to be speculation that he is not happy with the change of courses at a tournament where he has won twice.

He has not played since winning the HSBC Champions in China in early November.

“Taking more than two months off sounds like a long time, but I’ll have to be fresh and ready to go when the 2008 season starts because I’ll play five in a row starting in San Diego,” Mickelson said on his Web site. "Plus, I just really, really hate the Classic Club."

Just wanted to make sure you were reading!

Larry Bohannan documents the changes to the Classic Club that Phil will not experience this year.

“People whose left hand has taken them to greatness.”

Elizabeth Olson of the New York Times reports that the Mickelson's will be able to put food on the table for another year thanks to Phil's new deal with Crowne Plaza hotels which, mercifully, should save us from another year of those roundtable ads with Trevino, Feherty, Gulbis, et. al.

The center of the promotion is a Web site, ameetingwithphil.com, where fans can submit a story or video by Feb. 2 in one of six categories: people who look like Mr. Mickelson; spectators who have been hit by one of his golf balls;

Glad we clarified which balls.

people who consider themselves his biggest fans;

There goes the PGA Tour membership.

those who have advice for his golf game;

Calling Rick Smith. 

amateurs who think they could be the next Phil Mickelson; and “people whose left hand has taken them to greatness.”

Uh...no, I won't touch that one either.

Mr. Mickelson is a lefty in a sport that favors righties.

Thanks.

After sorting through the online entries and several in-person auditions, Crowne Plaza, which is owned by InterContinental Hotels Group of London, plans to choose five people with compelling stories in each category and fly them to San Diego in late February. There the company will shoot six 30-second spots featuring unscripted conversations between Mr. Mickelson and the fans. The ads will be shown during the 2008 golf season, from mid-April through September.

Hmmm...we may regret the loss of those Crowne Plaza ads after all.

“This is a chance for fans, who used to be on the fairways until ropes were put up, to interact with Phil, who is known for being approachable,” said Michael S. Craig, group account director at the agency that created the campaign, Fallon Minneapolis, a division of Fallon Worldwide, a part of Publicis Groupe.

Original!

This is fun. 

Mr. Mickelson, 37, who was not made available for comment, has appeared in ads for Rolex, Exxon Mobil and Ford, among others. He is one of a string of golf greats to lend his name to a brand. Arnold Palmer led the way more than four decades ago and was soon followed by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. These days, Tiger Woods appears regularly for Nike.

Although things can go sour in a sponsorship deal if the athlete gets in trouble, Crowne Plaza says it sees no cause for concern with Mr. Mickelson, who is known for his devotion to his family and P.G.A. charity work. “When you think about athletes as endorsers, you are at little risk with a golfer,” said Mr. Craig of Fallon.

Well...most golfers.

"It is nice to win a tournament that Tiger has tried to win the last couple of years unsuccessfully"

This wire story reports on the wacky finish to the HSBC event, where Phil Mickelson

Lefty overcame six penalty strokes in the final round, blew a three-shot lead with seven to play, and still won Sunday's HSBC Champions tournament on the second hole of a three-way playoff with Englishmen Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood.

And James Corrigan explains Ross Fisher's Van de Veldeian finish.

But best of all, Nick Mulvenney reports on the latest stupid thing Phil has said:

"It is nice to win a tournament that Tiger has tried to win the last couple of years unsuccessfully," he added.

But at least has his priorities straight...

"Now that my family is older, my kids are older, eight, six and four, I will try to play more tournaments overseas and use those trips as educational weeks for my family," he said.

HSBC Champions Photo Caption Fun

From the GolfChannel.com, a Ross Kinnaird image taken at "preview day" of the H$BC Champions Trophy meet and greet. What's Phil hearing?

 

Mickelson Family Safari Makes Up For Otherwise Miserable Week In Singapore

Grant Clark reports that Phil Mickelson had his highest round in 3 years and is on antibiotics after inhaling California's ashen air.

But at least the kids had fun on the Singapore safari.

Mickelson Home OK; Entire Family Heads To China On Human Rights Fact Finding Mission

Tim Rosaforte reports the good news and a heartwarming tidbit:

Phil Mickelson's home in Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.) has escaped fire damage, a source told Golf World on Wednesday, but five homes in the same neighborhood, including one across the street, have burned to the ground. Mickelson, whose family evacuated the home Monday, was able to gain access to his property Wednesday, and he's planning to leave Sunday for a two-week trip to Asia, where he's scheduled to play the Singapore Open and HSBC Champions.

Mickelson's family will accompany him; they're planning to turn it into an educational trip with a visit planned to the Great Wall of China, among other historical landmarks.

Oh I smell a children's book in the making. 

Meanwhile Rex Hoggard reports on the fire's impact on others in the golf industry. 

"Just giving him the respect he deserves is really all it would take for Finchem to carve out a relationship with the No. 2 draw in golf."

In this week's "Quiet Please" column, Golf World's Tim Rosaforte writes:

Tim Finchem might learn a lesson from Phil Mickelson's appearance at this week's Fry's Electronics Open.  Mickelson is playing at Grayhawk GC for no other reason than he's a loyal guy. He's carried the club logo on his bag without re-upping his contract since 1994, has the grillroom named after him and is the front man and course designer at Whisper Rock, just north on Scottsdale Road. It's his way of paying back a community that has been supporting him since his days at Arizona State. The lesson: Phil is good to people who are good to him. Just giving him the respect he deserves is really all it would take for Finchem to carve out a relationship with the No. 2 draw in golf.

Now, off the top of my head, I can think of one embarrassment Finchem saved Mickelson from this year.

So I'm struggling to understand what it is that the Commissioner is supposed to do that he's not doing now for Mickelson? 

While we're on the subject of Whisper Rock, Tom Dellner profiles it for the current issue of Links. 

Some Bearing...?

Due to my travels, I've only had a brief chance to glance over the Tour Championship stories this week and feel like I've missed...so little.

Far more interesting for largely selfish reasons was Thomas Bonk's LA Times story on Bearing Point taking over for Nissan as host of what most of us will continue to call the L.A. Open.

Just typing out loud here, but this move would seem to have several ramifications beyond the most obvious: Phil Mickelson should become a Riviera regular since his great showing there this year and his lucrative deal with Bearing Point.

And Bonk noted in his golf column today that this virtually guarantees that Phil will not return to the Bob Hope where the rotation has been weakened and everyone's insensitivity to golf architecture has deservedly caught up to the folks running the event.  

But again, just typing out loud here, Bearing Point's sponsorship could mean a couple of more things:

- Is Phil Mickelson going to be the host of the LA Open ala Tiger at Washington D.C. and the AT&T National? It seems unlikely since the L.A. Open has been an open event since 1926 and it's hard to imagine the Junior Chamber of Commerce or a sponsor daring to impact that tradition. Then again, if the Western Open is gone, anything's possible.

- Could it be that Phil's current gripe with the Commissioner has something to do with the Bearing Point Open...oh that hurt to type...and a possible denial by Ponte Vedra of Phil serving as the "host" ala Tiger in Washington D.C.? 

- With the traffic, apparently bumpy greens, the Target World Challenge locked into Sherwood and Phil/Bearing Point dominating the scene at Riviera, have we seen the last of Tiger Woods at Riviera?

Anyway, just a few thoughts. I guess we'll find out more when the official announcement is made. 

"He came off like a spoiled brat who took his bat and ball and went home. Ask anybody on Tour — Phil is very into Phil."

Thanks to reader NRH for noticing SI's posting of an updated FedEx Cup/Phil blasting from their anonymous PGA Tour pro. This ought to be interesting reading.

Phil Speaks!

...about his various neurotic club tinkering tendecies exclusively to Mark Lamport Stokes scores an exclusive with Phil to talk about his various neurotic club tinkering tendencies.