Lefty vs. Tiger is about being right or wrong
In the public’s eye or on the course, it all comes down to one’s actions
Andy Wong / APIf the U.S. Open comes down to a battle between Phil Mickelson, right, and Tiger Woods, it also will represent — at least for some — a metaphorical battle between decadence and decency, writes NBCSports.com contributor Dan O'Neill.
OPINION
By Dan O'Neill
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 12:32 a.m. ET June 12, 2010
 | Dan O'Neill |
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In the context of public perception, the competitive line that separates Phil Mickelson from Tiger Woods has never been more thick. In the context of world rankings, the line has never been so thin. Perhaps that's what make this U.S. Open so juicy.
For some, the most obvious difference between golf's marquee names is no longer the fact that one swings right and one swings left. For the morally attuned, one swings right and one swings wrong. And clearly, Mickelson is the guy in the white hat.
The awkward headlines, the infidelities, the sordid details have shattered Woods' corporate-clean image as the sports world's ultimate champion. Through the marital fallout, the public apology, the counseling and the recent coaching change, Woods is still sealing cracks, still working to get his career back on solid ground.
In the midst of the stunning revelations, Mickelson has stepped front and center. Mickelson already was wildly popular with galleries, who appreciate his accessibility and his reward-risk approach to risk-reward shots. His 72nd hole U.S. Open tragedy at Winged Foot in 2006 simply made his vulnerability all the more captivating. He became golf's Heartbreak Kid.
Then came the revelations about Amy Mickelson and her battle with breast cancer, then the news Mary Mickelson, Phil's mother, also was being treated. Mickelson took time off to be by his wife's side, to see his family through a difficult period. In stark contrast, he was the sports world's ultimate Family Guy.
While the TW brand absorbed hit after hit, Mickelson struck a blow for old-fashioned values by winning his third Masters in April, leaping back into the major championship mix. Now, as the field of 156 gathers on romantic Monterrey Peninsula for the season's second major, Mickelson is within striking distance of Woods' penthouse suite in the World Golf Rankings.
Under the right scenario, he could bump Woods off his perch at Pebble Beach and become the game's first violin. But it's much more than that. The circumstances have presented Mickelson with an improbable do over.
Think back. We were in a similar place in '06 when “Lefty” hit the wall — and the trash can, and the tree — at Winged Foot. He was coming off his second Masters championship that summer as the Open approached, and he had won the PGA a few months earlier.
In the meantime, Woods was dealing with private matters. His father was gravely ill and finally succumbed to cancer. Woods took nine weeks off to grieve, then attempted to make the Open at Winged Foot his first tournament back. He missed the cut, the first time he had the weekend off at a major in his professional career.
When Mickelson came to the 72nd hole on that late Sunday afternoon, he was on the verge of winning a third consecutive major, reaching a higher plane, the kind of ground only Woods occupied. But the bubble burst, popped by that disastrous sequence at No. 18. The potential “Mickel-slam” turned into a Jean Van de Velde replay, a Wikipedia chapter unto itself.
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Even the author had trouble digesting the surprise ending. “I still am in shock that I did that,” Mickelson said afterward. “I just can't believe I did that. I am such an idiot.”
It was a classic Mickelson moment, the kind of self-destructive consequence that has seen him finish second five times at a U.S. Open, the kind of self-effacing humility that has made him infinitely more embraceable than Woods. Nearly 3½ years of major championship irrelevance followed.
What happened at Winged Foot that day will always be part of lore, like Van de Velde's implosion at the 1999 British Open, Sam Snead's errant putt at the 1947 U.S. Open, Greg Norman's meltdown in the 1996 Masters, Arnold Palmer's seven-shot belly-flop at the 1966 U.S. Open.
But Mickelson applied some liquid paper with his refreshing win at Augusta this year and a follow-up at Pebble Beach would fade that 2006 font even further. A U.S. Open victory for Mickelson, after so many maddening misses, would speak volumes about character and resilience when golf needs volumes to be spoken.
It would give “Mick the Stick” five major titles, along with just 17 others, and move him to within a British Open of a much shorter list — those that have captured a career grand slam. In contrast to the unsavory business that haunts Woods, it would be a feel-good feeding frenzy.
The venue certainly lends itself. While it's true Woods napalmed the place in 2000, setting sick scoring records and winning by a gluttonous 15 shots, Mickelson also has Pebble pedigree. He has won the AT&T Pebble Beach three times, most recently in 2007.
For only the second time in his pro career, Mickelson has taken time off the week before the Open, choosing not to fly back and forth from California to Memphis for the St. Jude Classic. “I'm going to go up to Pebble for a couple of days,” Mickelson said at the recent Memorial. “I'll work with (Dave) Stockton for multiple days and get ready. Next week's going to be a challenge because I have had my best success in majors when I play the week before.”
Nonetheless, Mickelson will take the week to get re-acquainted with the Poa annua grass, work on his putting — which was not crisp at the Memorial — and develop a U.S. Open coping plan.
“The course won't be set up anything like the tournament,” Mickelson said. “Because of that, the whole point of (this) week is to develop strategy, decide what club I'm going to hit off what tees with certain wind conditions and what holes I'll be attacking to certain pins, and try to have all that predetermined.
“That's what I've done the last six years, so that there's no question to what club I'm going to hit off the tee in this situation. That decision's already been made.”
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have come to majors as contentious rivals many times in these past years. And the possibility of the game's top two players facing off on Sunday always represents a dream sequence, but perhaps never more so than now.
If it happens this time, the lines will be unmistakable. If the U.S. Open comes down to a battle between Woods and Mickelson, it also will represent — at least for some — a metaphorical battle between decadence and decency. Clearly at this point, Phil Mickelson represents the former, i.e. the people's choice.
That decision's already been made.
Dan O'Neill writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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