Phil Mickelson Has Good Season Start At The Humana Challenge
By Les Bailey
Jan 22, 2015; La Quinta, CA, USA; Phil Mickelson smiles as he walks up the 17th fairway during the first round of the Humana Challenge at La Quinta Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Phil Mickelson didn’t win the Humana Challenge in Partnership with the Clinton Foundation on Sunday afternoon, but I didn’t expect for the 44 year-old to challenge for this title. What I did expect, was to see if Phi has gotten his health, and golf game ready for the long, 2015 season. I liked what I saw from Lefty’s game, and look forward to seeing him compete in Phoenix next week.
After a dismal 2014 season that saw very little success, and only one top ten finish on the year, the questions started to surface about Mickelson’s longevity as a front-runner on the PGA Tour. At 44 years old, you have to accept reality, and start planning on how you are going to make it to the Champions Tour.
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Phil Mickelson has unfinished business, and needs to gather himself for one more run if he wants to make his dream of a Career Slam into reality and cement his legacy. And from what I saw in the California Desert this past week, I think that last run is possible.
After a slow start on Thursday, Mickelson picked up the pace, and birdie count as the week progressed, and was tied with Ryan Palmer, Webb Simpson, and Justin Thomas for most birdies in the tournament at 26.
Unfortunately, he made eleven bogeys, and finished tied for 24th place for the week. Phil’s usual impeccable short game had some rust on it, but I expect him to have that polished by April, and his annual trip to Augusta.
After the opening, one under 71 on Thursday, Phil posted the rest of his rounds in the sixties, with his best round coming on Friday. He put a run of five birdies in a row to finish out the front nine at the Nicklaus Private course, and was on the first page of the leaderboard.
"“I’ve got some things to improve on, but it was a good week to kind of build a foundation,” said Mickelson, who won the 2002 and 2004 Humanas. “I’m really excited for this upcoming year. I feel I’m ready to go, ready to get started. It was a good week this week, but some of the fine tuning needs to get just a little bit sharper.”"
The real good news for Lefty is pretty obvious in looking at the statistics. He had no double bogeys, or worse on the week, He averaged over 300 yards with the big stick, his longest was 341 yards in the third round. He hit over 70% of his fairways, and 75% of his greens in regulation.
Mickelson loves to play during the West Coast Swing, and has won twice in Phoenix
Phil’s Strokes Gained Tee to Green was a whopping 1.9, and Strokes Gained Putting was 1.48. This gave him a total Strokes Gained at 3.397 on the week.
At the end of the 2014 season, most aspects of Phill Mickelson’s game were in trouble. He couldn’t keep a ball in the fairway, and couldn’t make a putt that counted. He looks to have worked on everything during the time off, and when he gets tournament ready, could be a force to reckon with in 2015.
Although I don’t see Phil Mickelson wining his first US Open at Chambers Bay this June, It looks like he has his game on-track for 2015, and is always competitive at Augusta. First things first though, lets’s see how he does at his old stomping grounds in Scottsdale this week.
Mickelson loves to play during the West Coast Swing, and has won twice in Phoenix. After his victory there in 2013, he went on to beat Henrik Stenson by thee shots to win the Open Championship at Muirfield for his last major championship, and his last win on any tour.
Source: PGATour.com