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Phil Mickelson is remarkably talented, with a short game to die for. But he also is remarkably frustrating, a player who has suffered some of the most spectacular near-misses in golf history.

Q. The PGA Tour season is approaching the U.S. Open and has reached halfway mark of the schedule, which leads up to the FEDEX Cup Playoffs in late August. At this point, who has been the biggest disappointment and who has been the biggest surprise?
— Bill Holland, Los Angeles

A. There, are of course, a number of candidates for each of those titles, depending on who you follow and what you're expectations were coming into the year. But in my mind, Sergio Garcia is an obvious candidate for “most disappointing.” Garcia had the best season of his career in 2008 and appeared ready to reach heights that have been predicted for him since he hopped and skipped up the fairways at Medinah in 1999. He won The Players last year, was a playoff second at the PGA Championship and a playoff second at both The Barlcays and the Tour Championship. He had 11 top 25s and, won almost $5 million.

When the season began, Garcia actually had a chance to sub-plant the idle Woods as the No. 1 ranked player in the World Golf Rankings. But he has been in a complete funk in '09. He was not a factor at the Masters, other than to insult the green jackets with post tournament whining – for which he later apologized.

His top finish has been a tie for 22nd at The Players, and he recently admitted to being mentally elsewhere. Bethpage is a golf course that should favor Garcia, he tied for 8th at the 2002 Open there. We'll see if he can bounce back.

On the other hand, Nick Watney would be my choice for biggest surprise. The former Fresno State standout had all of one — count them, one — top-10 finish last season. He missed six cuts and had 14 finishes that were 33rd or higher.

Well, the 28-year old Watney won the Buick Invitational in February, finished second at the World Golf Championships/CA Championship and tied for fourth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He has nine top-25s already and with $2.4 million in winnings, Watney has nearly tripled his take from 2008 and easily reached a career high in season earnings.

Q.: I recently bought a new driver and every time I play with my regular group, my friend wants to use it. In the long haul, will the extra use take some the spring out of my driver?
— Mark Hansen, Oakville, Mo.

A. It is more likely to take some of the spring out of your friendship than your driver. Truth is, unless your buddy has supersonic swing speed, uses a driver for every shot, plays with you every day, and plays with a steel-core golf ball, his borrowing habit is not likely to impact the performance of your club. In other words, we're talking intense usage over a prolonged period of time — way past the point where you would be shopping for a new driver anyway – before wear and tear might become an issue.

That said, every club and every manufacturer is a different. You might contact the specific manufacturer or outlet where you purchased the driver for the specifics or information on how many impacts and what speeds can cause the club to lose its pop.

A bigger risk is that your pal may accidentally damage the club, perhaps break the shaft, or crack the face, at which point you would need a replacement. I suggest you have your friend sign a waiver or pre-duff-tual agreement, in which he agrees to share in the cost of the driver.

Q.: What is the standard size of a golf hole and how did the fathers of the game arrive at that size?
— Dick O'Connor, Bethesda, Md.

A. Having given this quite a bit of thought, I firmly believe what happened is that the founding fathers of the game took into account what size diameter most of us would like to see for a golf hole and then divided by two.

But seriously, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews came up with the standard size hole of 4.25 inches in diameter under rules drafted in 189, and the reason was quite practical.

In 1829, the attendants at Musselburgh (now a 9-hole municipal course called Royal Musselburgh Golf Club) invented the first known hole-cutter, which is still in existence and on display at the club. The cutter incorporated a tool that was 4.25 inches in diameter. The R&A was comfortable with that hole and elected to adopt it as the standard for all golf courses.

Most likely, the size for the hole-cutting tool was arbitrary, but according to legend, the tool was built from an excess pipe laying around the grounds. And the rest, as they say, is history ... unpleasant as it is when you lip out that four-footer.