In Friday’s edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, McCarron made the remark with respect to Mickelson’s use of the Ping Eye 2 wedge. The club features squared grooves - exactly the kind of club banned all around the world as of January 1. Mickelson is only one of several players who are using the club at this week’s tournament. This is technically legal because of a loophole in the new equipment rules arising from a lawsuit in the 1980s.
All major professional golf organizations have banned the use of squared grooves in order to make it more difficult for players to spin the ball out of the rough and thereby make it more important to hit the fairway of the tee.

However, McCarron stated that using the club was “against the spirit of the game” and that the rule should be changed immediately. Several TV commentators reacted by pointing out that McCarron himself might be acting against the spirit of the game by using a belly putter.

When asked about McCarron’s statement Mickelson agreed that the “rule is ridiculous and that it should be changed”. But he insisted that using the pre-1990 club isn’t cheating and that “it isn’t my job [...] to interpret the intent of the rule”.

How do you feel about the new groove rule and Scott McCarron’s statement? Do you think that Phil should stop using a club he had in his bag for over a decade? Do you feel that the USGA and/or the PGA Tour need to make further changes to their rules? Please use the comment function to share your thoughts.

After a lengthy break (Mickelson’s last tournament was his thrilling victory in the WGC - HSBC Champions in early November 2009), we expect Phil to play in five consecutive events until the Phoenix Open in late February. He will play in 22 events, four of those on foreign soil.

Here are my favorite Phil Mickelson moments of 2009:

1) Wife Amy and Mother Mary diagnosed with breast cancer

Now please don’t get me wrong here: What I like about this is obviously not the fact that two members of the Mickelson family were diagnosed with that tragic disease within a few weeks of each other but rather the way how Phil and his family handled the situation. To immediately suspend his PGA Tour season was bad news for golf fans all over the world but definitely the right thing to do. To me it showed (once again) that Phil Mickelson might be a multi-millionaire but that nothing is more important to him than his family.
Even though Tiger Woods has reacted in the same way (in announcing an indefinite absence from professional golf) when news about his turbulent marital life broke he would’ve been well advised to set his priorities accordingly a long time ago.
The condolence within the golf community (and far beyond) was overwhelming: Within hours after we posted the news about Amy’s diagnosis on the website, hundreds of fans from all over the world had left a message sending their prayers and wishes to Amy and Phil.

2) Phil’s emotional return to the PGA Tour at the US Open

Even though Phil already returned to the Tour at the St. Jude Classic, the pictures that will stay in my mind (forever) are the ones from the US Open at Bethpage Black. Playing in only his second tournament after going public with the news about Amy’s diagnosis, Mickelson delivered a heroic fight in front of his die-hard New York fans to finish in a tie for second behind surprise winner Lucas Glover.

3) Five wins in a season!

Due to the events in his personal life, Phil played in only 18 events on the PGA Tour (plus the Barclays Singapore Open on the Asian Tour).
Among others he did not tee it up at the 2009 British Open in July to be with his wife Amy and mother Mary. He missed only two cuts at the FBR Open (his first tournament of the season) and the Shell Houston Open prior to the Masters. In the remaining 16 events, Mickelson finished inside the Top-10 an impressive seven times and earned more than $6.5 Mio. in prize money (incl. $1.2 Mio. for his victory in the WGC – HSBC Champions which is not an official PGA Tour event).

While everybody will understand that consistency couldn’t be asked of Phil Mickelson in 2009, I consider it to be one of his best seasons ever. It sure was exciting: Whenever he set foot on a golf course you couldn’t be sure if he would miss the cut or win the tournament.
With all the frenzy surrounding his personal life during the past months, we all tend to forget what an exceptional season Phil had on the golf course:
It started with a successful title defence at the Northern Trust Open in February. His next victory came at the CA Championship at Doral where Phil successfully overcame a virus disease, heat exhaustion and dehydration to win the first World Golf Championship title of his career and move back to the number two spot in the official world golf rankings.
After what can only be described as a roller-coaster season, Phil ended his 2009 campaign in style with victories at the The Tour Championship and the WGC - HSBC Champions in China.

While we are all wondering what the golf world will look like without Tiger next season I send my best wishes to Phil Mickelson, his family and all the readers of phil-fanatics.com. Happy New Year and see you all in 2010!

Trailing Els by one Mickelson hit his tee shot at the drivable Par-4 16th to the left of the green and was left with a tricky approach to a pin that was placed only a few feet behind a bunker.
He set-up for his famous flop and made a beautiful swing into a full finish…it took me a fraction of a second but I had to realize that he had gone right underneath the ball and had only moved it a few inches. He then punched his third shot onto the green’s collar but with Ernie Els one shot ahead and in the middle of the fairway after his tee shot on the 72nd hole, it didn’t look as if a happy ending was likely to happen for Lefty.

Els - who was playing two groups ahead of Mickelson - was at -10 for the day and seemed to be in perfect control of his game. But obviously there was too much pressure for the South African:
Looking for his first victory since the 2008 Honda Classic he made a complete mess of his second shot into the Par-5 and hit the fairway metal into the water hazard at least 20 yards short of the green. Only seconds later Mickelson pumped his fist after rolling in the long and breaking par putt on 16. He then hit his tee shot on the Par-3 17th to eight feet and made the birdie putt.

After Els missed a lenghty par attempt on the hole ahead it was clear that par would be enough for Mickelson to win his third World Golf Championship title.
However, despite taking three wood off the tee it would turn out to be a nervous final hole for Phil: He pushed his tee shot to the left into very thick rough and missed the short grass again with his lay-up. With water surrounding the 18th green on three sides a desaster was possible but Mickelson safely pitched on and two-putted for a one-stroke victory.

Ernie Els had to settle for a fourth round of 63 (the third course record of the day together with Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Daisuke Maruyama of Japan) and second place.

Tiger Woods was never a factor in today’s final round as he missed several short putts and was four over par after seven holes. He managed to gather himself and collected five birdies over the next eight holes but his last hole was symptomatic for Tiger’s play: After missing the fairway with the driver he was forced to lay-up on the reachable Par-5. He then ran his ball through the green and into the water for a closing bogey. Tiger finished with a found of 72 (Even) and in a tie for sixth with Germany’s Martin Kaymer.

Mickelson now heads into a long winter’s break. Today was his final round of the year, and he now takes three months off before starting his 2010 season at Torrey Pines in late January.

Phil Mickelson had 16 birdies and only two bogeys during the first three rounds of the tournament and leads world number one Tiger Woods by two strokes going into tomorrow’s final round. The two men will play in the last group together with fellow American Nick Watney who is alongside Woods at 12 under par.

The HSBC Champions is the season’s third event of the World Golf Championship (WGC) series and is played at Sheshan Golf Club, a Par-72 layout (7,199 yds.) just outside of Shanghai. The winner will receive a prize money of appr. $ 1.2 Mio.

Here is a short wrap-up of all the matches Phil played in:

Thursday Foursomes (Mickelson/Kim vs Weir/Clark) : USA wins 3 and 2
The International Team led throughout the first 12 holves (albeit never more than a 1-up advantage) until Mickelson rolled in consecutive birdie putts on No. 13 and No. 14 to take the lead for the US Team. The Americans also birdied the next two holes to win the first match ot the 2009 Presidents Cup.

Friday Four-Ball (Mickelson/Leonard vs Goosen/Scott): USA Wins 3 and 2
In an entertaining match, Phil had four birdies on the front nine that helped the Americans to maintain a slender 1-up advantage. Adam Scott birdied the 12th to square the match but Phil responded with a fantastic iron shot on the next hole and the US Team never looked back.

Saturday Foursomes (Mickelson/O’Hair vs Goosen/Villegas): USA wins 5 and 3
After a short warm-up period (the International Team led 1-up after three holes), Mickelson and O’Hair really got it going. Phil had another fantastic day with the flat stick and got his third win with his third different partner.

Saturday Four-Ball (Mickelson/O’Haird vs Singh/Clark): Match Halved
In the best match of the day, the Americans never led and were always down until the 12th hole. Tim Clark was the dominating player for Greg Norman’s team as he made six birdies (one of them coming from 63 feet at No. 11). The match was all-square when they came to the Par-5 18th hole. No player was able to reach the green with his second shot and after no one’s third shot was particularly close it turned into a putting contest. After everyone had missed their putts (Mickelson from only 11 feet) the match was halved and the US Team lead by three before Sunday’s Singles.

Sunday Singles (Mickelson vs Goosen): USA wins 2up
It was the first time this week that Phil seemed to have difficulties on the greens. Therefore the matched stayed close - even though two-time Major champion Retief Goosen wasn’t playing his best golf either - until Mickelson birdied No. 15 and No. 17 to earn the US Team’s final point in the 2009 President Cup.

The International Team’s Captain Greg Norman made a bad choice with his picks Adam Scott
and Ryo Ishikawa. Especially Scott - who has played poorly all season long - turned out to be the team’s weak link and managed only one point in five matches.

The US Team has now won six out of eight Presidents Cup matches (the sole International Victory came at Royal Melbourne in 1998, the 2003 edition in Fancourt, South Africa was halved), most of them with a huge margin. The International Team needs to make some fundamental changes in order to be competitive in the 2011 match. Otherwise the media and spectator attention might fade if this great event turns into a one-sided affair.

At the end of a PGA Tour season that was marked by constant up and downs both on - but mostly off - the golf course, Mickelson’s play was a blueprint of consistency and golfing skill. If it wasn’t for one (big) blemish during his first round (a quadruple-bogey 8 that included three shots from the same bunker), one could almost mistake Phil for someone else as he was bombing it miles off the tee, hitting green after green and sinking chips and putts from all over the place.

Lefty started the fourth round four shots back off overnight leader Kenny Perry but quickly erased the deficit with birdies on number 3, 4,8 and 9 while Perry had an opening birdie on number 2 that he followed with bogeys on 3, 5, 9, 11 and a double-bogey on the difficult Par-4 13th. Mickelson sealed the victory when he chipped in for birdie from off the green on 16 and celebrated with one of several fist-pumps during Sunday’s play (picture).

“I thought it was a tough, challenging day with the wind. I knew that it was going to be difficult for some of the leaders or the group behind me to take off and run. … I played one of the better rounds I played all year,” Mickelson said after the round.

Phil’s third victory of the season at Atlanta propelled him into 2nd place (behind Tiger Woods) in the final FedEx Cup standings, earned him a $3 million bonus for doing exactly that (in addition to the “regular” prize money of §1.35 million) and helped him to recapture his position as the second-best golfer in the world according to the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR).

With Lefty back in full form I am very much looking forward to the bi-annual Presidents Cup between the US and International Team in San Francisco in two weeks time. As one of the rare team events on the top pro’s calender it usually provides great golf and equally great entertainment. However, with Woods, Mickelson and Stricker in complete control of their games and their international counterparts like Els, Singh and Villegas struggling we might see a rather one-sided competition.

Join us again next week on phil-fanatics.com for our preview to the 2009 Presidents Cup.

Halfway through the tournament he lies in 13th position only five shots behind Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington who have played 12 holes.

Phil’s surreal quadruple bogey came after a great drive from the middle of the fairway: He plugged his approach shot in the left greenside bunker and from there thinned it across the green into the rough. His fourth shot went back into the bunker he had played from a while ago and Phil needed two more swings to finally get the ball onto the putting surface.

There obviously is the fact that Phil’s wife and mother have been diagnosed with breast cancer within a few weeks of each other and that currently he certainly has more important things to deal with in his life than hitting a little white ball into a hole in the ground. However, things seemed to be going better with the ladies lately and Phil decided to return to the PGA Tour. He staged a sensational, very emotional and somewhat successful comeback at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in front of his die-hard New York fans.

To me that showed (once again) that he is definitely capable of playing his best golf under enormous pressure and less than ideal circumstances. So let’s try to forget about the adversities in Phil Mickelson’s personal life for a moment and take a look at some statistics. Here are Phil’s numbers for the first three tournaments of the FedEx Cup Play-Offs as compared to his 2009 season averages:

It seems that with the exception of the BMW Championship, Mickelson’s Play-Off statistics are comparable or even better than his season average. So how come we haven’t seen the good results we’ve been used to?

May be TPC Boston, Cog Hill and Liberty National played easier than the courses during the rest of the year? So I came up with the idea of comparing Phil’s numbers to those of the three tournament champions:

It probably would’ve been even better to do a comparison with the field average but I didn’t know where to find that data. Also, it is difficult to judge a round of golf simply by looking at the numbers: For example, Putts per GIR doesn’t say much without looking at the average distance to the hole at the same time; driving accuracy isn’t worth a thing if you only hit it 200 yds etc.

Anyway, let’s keep it simple and bring it to the point: It seems as if Phil’s biggest problems are the driving and the putting. But while Phil has never been known to be a consistently accurate driver of the golf ball, putting the ball into the hole has always been considered one of his biggest strenghts.
To me it seems that both a recent lack of practice and all the troubles in his private life are having a negative impact on Phil’s putting, the mentally most challenging aspect of the game.

I know that TV coverage of Mickelson’s play was limited lately (due to his poor performances), but if you saw him play or do have an opinion based on the numbers presented above, please feel free to share it through the comment function.

With his victory in the 91st PGA Championship, Y.E. Yang has singlehandedly caused more rewrites than the Bush/Gore election in 2000.

Yang, anchored by nerves of steel and a timely eagle on the par 4 14th, captured his first major title and accomplished what so many others before had failed to do – overtake Tiger Woods in the final round of a major. A birdie on the 18th put an exclamation point on his stunning victory. This combined with his win at the Honda make him a darkhorse candidate for player of the year. But before I get ahead of myself…

While some managed to hang around (Westwood and McIlroy), others fell off the map completely (Harrington with the dreaded snowman, making 8 on the par 3 8th). Still others languished and could get nothing going (Els, Singh, and US Open winner Lucas Glover).

Meanwhile Tiger was unable to muster any magic or momentum. An inauspicious 38 on the front side was followed by a lackluster 37 on the inward 9. Even his birdie on fourteen, only his second of the day, was overshadowed moments earlier by Yang’s eagle chip from short right of the green. Wayward drives and uninspired iron play hallmarked Tiger’s final round, a round most had predicted to end in certain victory and propel him one step closer to the Golden Bear.

Don’t cry for Tiger though, cheer for Yang. He deserved the title. While many players have wilted under Tiger’s pressure, Yang appeared poised and relaxed throughout the round. He seemed unfazed by Tiger’s presence and avoided any significant damage along the way. In fact his only two bogeys on the day were followed by a par and a birdie. His ability to right the ship so-to-speak was on display all week. In the second round he followed back-to-back-to-back bogeys on three, four and five, with birdie/eagle on six and seven for net par over 5 holes. At no other time over the course of 4 rounds did he have consecutive bogeys. With the victory, Yang moves up 14 slots in the FedEx Cup race to number 7.

Phi Mickelson was unable to create anything this week, the victim to a shaky flat-stick. Needing some help he barely made it in under the cut, and then completed the final two rounds almost invisibly. At twelve over he finished in solo 73rd, a completely forgettable result. He currently stands 6th in the Fedex race, falling from number 5 going into this week’s competition for the Wannamaker Trophy. He was replaced at number five by Lucas Glover who followed his US Open victory with another solid showing in a major.

Still, Phil’s performance in this year’s majors was memorable. His Sunday run at the Masters playing alongside Tiger Woods was the stuff network executives dream of. His near-miss at Bethpage, with the crowds trying to will putts into the hole, was heartbreaking to be sure, but vintage Phil Mickelson.

Now he has to put this year’s final major behind him and gear up for the Fedex playoffs. In a year of great highs and great lows for Phil, it is about time for a high.