WGC Mexico: Report cards for ten of the top PGA TOUR stars

All season long, Phil Mickelson has mixed weeks of brilliance with weeks of incompetence. He tied for second at the Desert Classic, followed that by missing the cut at the Waste Management, and followed that by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach.

With that kind of recent track record, anything’s possible, explaining his tie for 39th. His week was a microcosm of his season

Phil’s problems all came down to that first round 79, when he seemed confused by the travel, or the altitude, or the food or something. He made nine bogeys all week, eight of them on Thursday and threw in a double on the par 3 seventh when his tee shot found the water. At the par 5 11th, he pulled his approach left, fluffed his third and failed to get up and down. Three holes after three-putting the 10th, he three putted the 13th.

Almost no facet of his game appeared competent Thursday; he gave the field 3.7 strokes approaching the greens, 2.0 strokes around them and 2.7 strokes on them.

Nobody is more capable than Phil of recovering from such mis-adventures. Just twenty-four hours later, he would normalize his approach play and turn his short game into the asset it generally is, producing a five stroke advantage on and around the greens. He shot 65 with six birdies, following up with a two-under finish through the final 36 holes.

Just like you knew he would.