Dan O'Neill

AUGUSTA, Ga. - For all of his unorthodox moments, tradition is not lost on Phil Mickelson. He is aware of the golf’s lore, reverent to those who have made their mark, taken aback to hear his name mentioned in the same sentence.

“I really don’t think about that,” Mickelson said, as he let his second Masters championship soak in on Sunday. “As much as I want to be a part of the history of this tournament and a part of the history of the great game of golf, it’s not something I dwell on. I really enjoy the challenges that each major presents.

“Starting tomorrow, we’ll start preparing for Winged Foot. It just is a fun event, the four majors, to look forward to and try to prepare my best and to play my best. I don’t think about ultimately, you know, leaving a legacy, if you will. I just try to play well and compete and hopefully win as many as I can. It’s nice that I at least started, because two years ago I wasn’t, and now I’ve got a nice little start.”

Fair enough, let’s not dwell on what “Lefty” hath wrought. Before Sunday, it had been 18 years since someone won a Masters after winning the week before. Before 2003, a lefthander had never won the Masters. Now a lefthander — including Mike Weir in ’03 — has won three of the last four.

Before Sunday, Tiger Woods was unquestionably the game’s top star. But after Mickelson went wire to wire with a lead in the final round at Augusta, after he thwarted challenges from other members of the “Big Five,” posted a 69 for a tournament 7-under and a relaxed fit on a new green jacket, he might claim a time share.

But let’s not dwell on it, let’s look ahead. We all have heard of the Grand Slam, a feat some associate with Bobby Jones’s name. The modern day version would include victories in all four of the professional majors. No one has done it, not in one season.

Jones accomplished the amateur strain, or the “impregnable quadrilateral” in 1930. That version included the British and U.S. Opens and Amateurs.

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We are all familiar with the “Tiger Slam,” a reference to Wood’s remarkable string of four consecutive majors over two seasons. He started the run with a victory in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, concluded it with a win at the 2001 Masters.

Perhaps now, without dwelling of course, we have to talk about the possibility of a “Phil Slam,” a “Mick Trick”, or an “impregnable quadrilefty.” Hard to believe we’re having this conversation after Mickelson spit the bit at Augusta back in 2003, but the man has won three majors in 2 ¼ major seasons. More to the point, he has won two in a row including last year’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol.

We are seeing more of Mickelson’s kids than some of their in-laws, watching them hug daddy on golf’s 18^th green. Given Mickelson’s dominating performance on the leaner, meaner Augusta, given his equally impressive win at legendary Baltusrol last August, you have to consider the possibilities of a table-run.

Fred Couples couldn’t help but consider it from his bird’s eye view on Sunday.

“From what I’ve seen, in the last majors … when he won the PGA last year, he played extremely well,” said Couples, who was with Mickelson in the final pairing at Augusta, but couldn’t stay with Mickelson as the day wore on.

“He got the ball around. Today he drove it great and he putted great. I don’t see that slowing down and I don’t see why he can’t continue to win.”

The list of players who have won professional majors back to back is not terribly long. It includes names like Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan and Tom Watson, Nick Price and Lee Trevino – not a bad neighborhood. The list that has won three in a row is even shorter, including Woods, Nicklaus and Hogan.

Woods, of course, won three in a row in 2000 before completing his “Slam” at Augusta the following spring. Hogan won the first three majors in 1953, but due to travel and his sore legs, he did not compete in the PGA Championship. At the point, the PGA was still a match play event, with the possibility of playing 36 holes a day.

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