Mickelson...says he is now past the point of making mechanical changes and is focused on shaping shots and playing by feel."

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In his report from Torrey Pines, SI's Alan Shipnuck notes the contrast between hyper-technical Tiger versus Bubba Watson's more natural approach. And apparently, Phil's.

One of the game's most natural players has been obsessing about his swing with instructor Butch Harmon since the spring of 2007. Mickelson, 40, says he is now past the point of making mechanical changes and is focused on shaping shots and playing by feel. The ease and clarity with which he competed at Torrey was in stark contrast to the plight of Woods, who began the third swing overhaul of his career last summer.

First, Dave Pelz gets put on waivers and now maybe Butch?

Stick-A-Fork-In Tiger Clippings, Volume 1

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That didn't take long! One bad tournament and he's done!

Joe Posnanski on his Curiously Long Posts blog for SI pens a heartfelt, reasoned critique of Tiger from outside the ropes. The essence: are we in denial about the future of his game? It's a great read even if I think he's a bit premature. Though as he points out, when do we come to grips that things will never be the same?

But I think he is going to enter a new phase, where he will contend occasionally, like other golfers. He is going to enter a phase where it will be difficult to play well for four rounds. He is going to enter a phase where those 10-foot putts that were automatic will not be automatic anymore. I think things have changed for Tiger Woods, and they’re not going back. You can’t ever go back. And I don’t know how he is going to handle that. Nobody knows how he will handle it. Over the weekend, on one of his favorite courses, he looked lost. His swing was off. His short game was off. His putting was off. Yes, it was just his first tournament, but Tiger has always done really well in his first tournament — this was part of his game, he was always more ready to go when the seasons began than anyone else.

Anyway, what was as striking as anything was how uninterested he looked.

On that observation, Tiger's Sunday playing partner Brendan Steele would seem to agree, or so SI is saying they will report in this week's issue of Golf Plus.

"I don't think he gave it ­everything today," Steele told SI. "Once it started going in the wrong direction, I don’t think it had his full attention."

Meanwhile Steve Elling and John Huggan feast on Tiger in an entertaining Pond Scrum:

Elling: Blunt assessment time: I saw a guy who still can't string together four good rounds. He barely pieced together two good nines. Right now, Tiger Woods isn't one of the world's 40 best players. Last night in the San Diego airport, a bunch of scribes were actually discussing what would happen if he never made it back to anything close to his former levels at all. All of a sudden, it didn't sound like heresy.

Huggan: I'm perplexed. Tiger is supposed to have been (working) away since we last saw him at the Chevron and this is what he comes up with? He looked like Justin Leonard's idiot cousin. Can't drive. Can't chip. Can't putt. And let's not even get into his bunker play. Was he digging for buried treasure?

Elling: On Sunday, while he was carding his second-worst score on a course where he has won six of his last seven starts, I was trying to catalog his strengths during the week. Only thing he did above average was hit a few good long irons.

Huggan: Emphasis on a few. Most of the shots I saw were missing California, nevermind Torrey Pines.

Sally Jenkins offers a more diplomatic but essentially similar take:

It will be interesting to see if Woods, in his work with Foley, can really recover the swing of his own youth. Do yourself a favor and pull up some old footage of Woods, back when he was a collegiate player and U.S. Amateur champion. It’s a joy to watch. That kid, all elbows and knees, thwacked at the ball with such unconscious, unthinking pleasure. Now pull up modern footage, and you’ll be struck by the difference, how much stiffer he seems, how much he’s fighting his own body.

At this point, Woods’ swing looks over-taught, and over-thought. Through the years, Woods has gotten steadily more mechanical, as well as visibly stronger and more muscular. Woods’ perfectionism has been his greatest strength, but you have to wonder if all that seeking of improvement, his constant preoccupation with the technical, always serves him so well. Maybe the greatest player in the world overperfected his swing. It would be nice to see a more natural Woods.

"Golf fans know more about what they're watching than do viewers of other sports, but they also represent a niche within the niche."

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I've heard from a few PGA Tour types smarting after the 54% ratings increase at Torrey Pines joined the up ratings for the Hawaii events. The takeaway seems to be that all is just fine and the PGA Tour is about to lure in the same deal it secured last time, if not an even bigger financial haul. Even though you don't depend on ratings.
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"I wish the PGA Tour would take a cue from the NHL."

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There's something you don't hear everyday. But Jason Sobel said it and he's not the only NHL fan who watched the All-Star fantasy draft and though, hmmmm....this would make the Presidents Cup wildly entertaining. Naturally, those words I just typed will scare the living day lights out of the Ponte Vedra brass who just spent the morning wondering if their light blue Oxford was a little too edgy of a wardrobe choice.
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Too Bad PGA Tour Doesn't Depend On Ratings: Farmers UP 54%!

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Before you read this release from CBS, take 32 minutes and visualize the end of a blowout game between Duke and St. Johns, then proceed.

RATINGS RISE FOR CBS SPORTS’ COVERAGE OF PGA TOUR’S “FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN” FINAL ROUND WITH 54% INCREASE
 
CBS Sports’ final-round coverage of the PGA TOUR’s FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN on Sunday, January 30 (3:30-6:30 PM, ET), which saw Bubba Watson beat Phil Mickelson by one stroke and Jhonattan Vegas and Dustin Johnson by three strokes, scored an average overnight household rating/share..

Wednesday night marks the return of Blue Bloods! See Tom Selleck play the first openly blue collar member of the USGA Executive Committee battling a super-secret group of Walter Driver lackeys disputing the importance of returning to the New York market every seven years. That's 9:30 Wednesday, only on CBS.

of 3.7/7, up +54% from last year’s 2.4/5 in the metered markets.
 
Sunday’s final-round rating peaked at a 4.8/9 (6:00-6:30 PM, ET).  In addition,

Tonight on 60 Minutes, Julian Assange reveals whether WikiLeaks really has all PGA Tour Vice Presidential emails from the last 13 years and whether he will post them online. Steve Kroft reports, only on CBS.

Sunday’s 3.7/7 was the highest overnight rating for the final round of the FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN since 2008 (4.6/9).
 
CBS Sports' third-round coverage of the FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN on Saturday, January 29 (3:15-6:00 PM, ET) earned an average overnight household rating/share of 2.5/6, up +47% from last year's third round 1.7/4 in the metered markets. Saturday’s 2.5/6 was the highest-rated third round for this event since 2008 (3.2/7).