The Color Of Envy

By Thomas Boswell
Monday, April 10, 2006

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Two years ago when he arrived here, Phil Mickelson had never won a major championship. However, his 0-for-42 mark as a pro in those biggest events didn't truly fathom the depth of his problems with his place in golf history. It was worse than that.

Few had the gall to speak the words aloud with so many years remaining in Lefty's career, but the possibility existed that, despite his enormous gifts and even greater popularity, Mickelson might end his career with the most disappointing record in the history of major tournament golf. The more he didn't win such crowns, the more Mickelson tied himself into a psychological pretzel by deflecting questions on the subject, resorting to "joy of competing" pop psychology and saying his time would come.

Now, after winning his second Masters, as well as capturing last year's PGA Championship, the 35-year-old Mickelson is streaming toward a far more logical and rightful place in the game he's loved since he first swung a club at 18 months old.

"Three for nine sounds better," said Mickelson, who knows better than anybody that he's now the red-hot fellow who has won the last two majors. The Phil Slam, anyone? He's halfway there. As for that guy Tiger, he's either 2 for 5 or 2 for 15, depending on whom you ask. Mickelson put the green jacket on Woods last April. To add spice to their rivalry Sunday, it was a bitterly disappointed Woods, who putted his way to third place, who put the green jacket back on Mickelson.

Is this back-and-forth ritual going to become an annual tradition, Mickelson was asked. In a flash, the ultra-competitive Mickelson, the one who had felt so thwarted for so many years, came racing to the fore.

"I really don't want to 'trade,' " he said. "I certainly preferred having the jacket put on [by Tiger] rather than putting it on."

There we have it. Game on, though said with subtlety in a sport of gentlemen. Those inside golf know this rivalry has been real for years, though with Woods usually getting the last sly word. Winner gets to plant the barb.

"As much as I want to be part of the history of this tournament and of this great game of golf, what I really try to do is prepare my best for each and every event," Mickelson said. "I don't think about leaving a legacy."

This is the side of Phil that drives everybody nuts, makes his peers want to scream, "Get real." However, as the cachet of his wins and the stunning margins of his victories have mounted, Mickelson has been able to drop his mask and show how much he has longed for a place at the table of the game's greats and how much more he still wants to accomplish.

"I don't think about leaving a legacy," said Mickelson, pausing. "But it's at least nice that I've started. A nice little start."

If three major titles are just a start, then what would constitute a culmination? After his rock-solid 4-under par performance over 31 holes Sunday, Mickelson has every right to believe that he will finally, if belatedly, fulfill his full potential. All whispers about Pholdin' Phil are long buried. Comparisons to Tom Weiskopf and Greg Norman, who never won a major title in America, are also a thing of the past.

Now, with plenty of prime seasons ahead of him, Mickelson and his fans can wonder where he will finish in the list of long-hitting multiple-Masters winners such as Sam Snead, Seve Ballesteros and perhaps someday even Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer.

"The stress-free walk up 18 was incredible," said Mickelson, who had a three-shot lead before bogeying the final hole. "I've wanted that experience in a major for a long time. What a way to finish a long day, but a wonderful day."

There's much to like about the Mickelson who has evolved in the last 30 months. In '03, as his failures on the golf course mounted, Mickelson took a hard and comprehensive look at himself, from his poor diet to his spotty conditioning to his practice habits and even his penchant for gambling. His wife's difficult delivery of their third child that year also scared him into maturity. His "makeover," from a woe-is-me excuse maker into a think-positive self-critical athlete, was worthy of a self-help TV special.

Now, he's more physically fit, has a trusted practice regimen with coaches Dave Pelz and Rick Smith, and won't even place a bet on the Super Bowl, much less try a risky shot with a 230-yard carry over a water hazard. Perhaps it took 0 for 42, as well as his wife's health scare, for Mickelson to see himself clearly, flaws and all. Summation: You're a lucky guy. Shape up.

"I look back on the old Masters highlights. I watched some things I've done and I've learned," Mickelson said. "It's taken me years to realize that 5 is a good score at the [par-5] 15th hole. You feel like you've got to make birdie. But when I tried to force it, I'd make 6 or 7 and knock myself out of the tournament. It's okay to make par there. It's not going to kill me.

"Things like that . . . you can't just cram that knowledge in. It takes awhile."

Now that he's learned so many hard lessons by experience, Mickelson may become an even tougher competitor with the years. On the 18th hole in the morning, as he completed his third round, he was bothered in his back swing by a photographer's shutter. He was nettled for the rest of the hole and made bogey. But, by afternoon, he'd moved on.

Also, the revamping of Augusta National -- designed to minimize the advantage of power hitters -- seemed to bother Mickelson the least. While shorter hitters and more accurate drivers contended on more even terms, Mickelson took the pinching of fairways beyond 300 yards in stride.

Woods has intimidated his Tour foes for years. But now, it seems, Mickelson is doing the same. When Tim Clark was asked if he was surprised that Mickelson played a bogey-free final round until the 18th hole, when the win was safely in hand, the runner-up said: "No. Phil did shoot 28 under last week" in winning the BellSouth Classic.

Fred Couples played with Mickelson and was his most serious competition until a three-putt at the 14th hole. Yet he seemed overshadowed by his longtime friend. "I don't think Phil was too worried about me beating him," Couples said.

Except for Woods, who might easily have challenged in this Masters with normal Tiger putting, there may not be anybody in golf who worried the new, improved Mickelson of the past two years.

What's the difference between the 0 for 42 Mickelson and the man who'll head to the U.S. Open with half of a Phil Slam?

"I'm certainly a lot cheerier now," Mickelson said.

And likely to remain so.