Video: Phil Explains How You Too Can Recover From Cart Paths

Steve DiMeglio on how Phil Mickelson hit a 450-yard drive on the 419-yard 17th hole, finished on a cart path and then made birdie en route to an opening 67 in the WGC Cadillac at Doral.

The video:



Even better, Phil's got a few minutes of footage "in the can" for his next short game DVD upon giving Steve Sands an impromptu live clinic on the Art Of The Cart Path Recovery:

Phil Up To 12-1 In Masters Futures Odds

A fitting bump after his resurrection in the desert last week, reports Alex Miceli.  

Video: Phil's (Bank?) Putt On Way To Winning Waste Management

On a shot you'd normally expect him to hit the flop shot only Phil can pull off, he putts it, maybe gets a slight graze off the intermediate cut, and it goes in.

Q.  We know you're a magician on the greens, but on No. 7, was it really your intention to bank the putt off the collar of the fringe and into the hole?
   
PHIL MICKELSON:  Yes.  (Laughter.)

I had to putt 20 feet through the fringe.  That was    the challenge of that was to judge the speed where half the putt is through fringe and half is on the green.

I got lucky to have made it, obviously.  I was just trying to 2 putt it.  It was doing fairly quickly when it got to the hole, probably would have been six, eight feet by.  I was very fortunate to make a 2 there.  With Brandt in there close, that was a big momentum change for us.

With the win--his 41st and one that tied for the second lowest score in PGA Tour history Mickelson helped move the news cycle away from Vijay's deer antler spray and back to golf, says John Strege.

Mickelson also moves to No. 10 in the world and Brandt Snedeker, runner-up, moves to No. 6, wrties Jason Sobel.

Make sure to watch to see the aerial view from NBC:

Video: Phil Fires 60 With Power Lipout On Last Hole

Fighting through the painful emotions of seeing old sparring partner Vijay Singh overcome some seriously bad press, Phil Mickelson fired an 11-under 60 in the opening round of 2013 Waste Management Open play.

As of now, the PGA Tour's YouTube page has posted Phil's birdie putt on the 8th hole, his 17th, which he left short. Why, I have no idea.

Thankfully, the putt we actually want to see was posted by a fan is now posted by the tour. Note the multiple cameras and great work by NBC's crew to capture the moment.

Update on 2013-01-31 23:19 by Geoff

**Sam Weinman says this one already ranks in the top 5 of all time lipouts.

Update on 2013-02-01 02:38 by Geoff

**Phil's post round interview with Mark Rolfing is fun...if you can handle the plugs for his new Callaway driver. Phil gets to see the lipout for the first time on video:

Update on 2013-02-01 02:37 by Geoff

**A wise reader who wished to remain nameless notes that some golfers shoot their age, with this 60 Phil shot his tax bracket.

Update on 2013-02-01 02:47 by Geoff

**Michael Collins caught up with Jim "Bones" Mackay in the parking lot to talk about the round.

Update on 2013-02-01 05:13 by Geoff

**Nice roundup of the 60 and player comments by Gary Van Sickle.

"Mickelson's Torrey Pines Vision Taking Shape"

Tod Leonard on the unveiling of Torrey Pines North's first three holes as Phil Mickelson would like to update them.

Most of it sounds solid, but some of this type of earth moving in the wrong hands could backfire:

Most significantly, three bunkers that guard the front of the first green would become one smaller bunker to the right-middle, while Angus said a bank on the left side would kick balls toward the hole. There is a swale to the short right of the green that golfers might find if they go for the hole in two shots.

• At the par-5 first, current fairway bunkers that are closer to the white tees will be eliminated, with new bunkers requiring carries of 278 and 310 yards for the pros. Where most amateurs would land, the fairway would be widened and raised to provide better views of the ocean. The green would be lowered by 8 feet to show off more water.

Phil: "I don’t think you can take away what you’ve allowed players to use, practise and play with for 30 years."

An AFP report quotes Phil Mickelson saying a ban on anchoring would be "grossly unfair.”

“It’s not an issue that I’m involved with, I understand both sides. It’s just that I don’t think you can take away what you’ve allowed players to use, practise and play with for 30 years. I think it is grossly unfair,” he said.

You may recall that Mickelson briefly toyed with the belly putter at the 2011 Deutsche Bank Championship.