Phil Makes A Pitch For Rickie Fowler To Get His U.S. Open Special Exemption

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In stark contrast to Brooks and Bryson, we have Phil Mickelson replying to a follower that he’d like to see Rickie Fowler get the special invitation no longer needed after winning the PGA Championship.

Fowler has two top-5s in the U.S. Open, including a second place in 2014, though based on past special invites, he seems unlikely to get one. Fowler failed to make it through the Columbus qualifying by just a shot after Tuesday morning’s rain-delayed finish. Fowler has not missed a U.S. Open since 2010.

Mickelson: Super League Good For Fans And Media, But Not So Schedule Friendly

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Phil Mickelson’s remarks to Bob Harig at ESPN.com suggest he continues to be intrigued by the Super/Premier/World Golf Series/Tourdeforce League concept:

"I think the fans would love it because they would see the best players play exponentially more times," Mickelson said after playing in the pro-am for the Wells Fargo Championship. "Instead of four or five times, it would be 20 times ... I don't know what the final number is.

"But that's a big deal to give up control of your schedule. I don't know if the players would be selfless enough to do that. But every other sport, the entity or teams or leagues control the schedule. The players kind of play where they are told to play. Whereas here, we're able to control it."

I’ve never heard the selfless angle, but given the apparent vaccine resistance on the Tour, he’s probably accurate.

Phil Unsure About A Torrey Pines U.S. Open Special Exemption

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You have to admire Phil Mickelson’s willingness to qualify and lack of desire to accept a 2021 U.S. Open special exemption. But with six runner-up finishes and as a native of San Diego, he’s a no-brainer based on any number of factors, from his career to the number handed out in the past to other legends.

According to this from ESPN.com’s Bob Harig talking to Mickelson after his Valspar opening run, the stance has at least moved from not wanting one to unsure.

"I don't know; I just don't know the answer to that right now," Mickelson told ESPN after shooting 2-over-par 73 at the Valspar Championship. "I'm scheduled to go through qualifying the day after the Memorial [Tournament in Ohio]."

As Harig notes, the USGA usually makes any such announcements in mid-May. The first was given to Ben Hogan in 1966 and most recent was to Ernie Els at Pebble Beach in 2019.

Phil On TV: "Commentating is not going drive me to be in the gym...or drive me to drink green juice."

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Phil Mickelson boards a VistaJet as a luggage handler brings his clubs along.

Phil Mickelson boards a VistaJet as a luggage handler brings his clubs along.

Phil Mickelson opened up to Forbes’ Mike Doic in less-than-subtle puff piece to plug his VistaJet partnership. And it yielded some gems.

On the possibility of moving into television commentary:

“I can see myself as an announcer because when I look at the game of golf, I see things that others don’t and I’m able to articulate it, and I think I’d be really good at it,” Mickelson says before backtracking a little on the idea.

“But it doesn’t bring out the best in me personally. Commentating is not going drive me to be in the gym, like this morning, or drive me to drink green juice. I envision being on the road and not being as accountable to my overall health. I really need the game of golf to push me and bring out the best in me.”

Wait until he sees how the camera adds 10 pounds. It’ll be celery shots for dinner.

And sounding as first world as one possibly can on a non-April 1 day, he talks of fractional ownership perks. We can all relate to this kind of freedom:

“When Amy and I would travel to the mountains to go ski, I would need to know months in advance when I was going to go, so that I could get a hangar. Otherwise, if the plane sits outside, things freeze and there is a huge additional expense that always comes up,” Mickelson explains.

“With, VistaJet, they handle that problem. We don’t have to tell them months in advance. We can tell them hours in advance, and they drop us off wherever we want to go and they deal with all the logistics,” he adds.

I’ve always said, it’s hangar rentals that just kill the joys of ownership.

Mickelson In No Hurry To Settle Down In Florida

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A little over a year ago California native Phil Mickelson surprised all at the American Express Championship he hosts by saying he was planning a move to Florida.

Now T27 heading into the Honda Classic final round Tom D’Angelo of the Palm Beach Post reports that Mickelson has yet to start construction on a Jupiter Island home.

Although Mickelson said “the plan” is to move here, he also said he wanted to “hold off” on talking about his reason for the decision. “A lot of great things around the area,” was all he would say.

When asked if he still could make the move from his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Cal., to Florida this summer, Mickelson, 50, said: “We’re looking at that as an option. We still have to build. We have a lot. We haven’t built on it yet.”

This week’s Honda Classic is near the Tour pro hotbed of Jupiter. Not that any of the big name locals bothered to play. Unless you count lot owner Mickelson.

Mickelson's Incredible Top 100 Streak Ends At 1425 Weeks

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Say what you want about the world rankings, but I doubt anyone can argue with the incredible streak ending Sunday at 27 years-plus in the top 100.

Mickelson started 2021 at world No. 66.

Agent: Mickelson "Absolutely" Open To TV Work In Next 12-24 Months

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After suggesting he might reevaluate things if a lousy 2021 start happened—it has—Phil Mickelson’s agent says his client is open to TV offers.

In a rather story on Front Office Sports, Michael McCarthy quotes agent Steve Loy.

“Absolutely, we’re always in discussions about Phil’s future,” said Steve Loy, Mickelson’s longtime business partner at SPORTFIVE.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if in the next 12 to 24 months you might see more of Phil on the air.” 

Well that’s subtle.

There is the hitch that CBS is about to give Jim Nantz is significant raise, NBC would like its announcers to pay them if they could get away with it, and ESPN does early round coverage of just two majors.

During CBS’s 2020 coverage of the PGA Championship Mickelson earned strong reviews for his over-caffeinated but compelling stint in the booth with Nantz and Nick Faldo. But as McCarthy notes in a possible giveaway that agent Loy was in hard sell mode, also noted this:

Even better, Mickelson connects with a younger audience, boasting nearly 2 million followers across Instagram and Twitter.

He reaches the demo! That’s worth $15 million a year, no?

Phil: "If I don’t play well early on...I’ll start to re-evaluate things"

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This week’s American Express Championship host may be inching closer to full time PGA Tour Champions duties.

Adam Schupak of Golfweek reports on Phil Mickelson’s surprising confession that competing is more fun, no matter which Tour. In his case, it may be the PGA Tour Champions if things do not pan out on the West Coast Swing.

“I’m excited to start the year and see if I’m able to continue playing at the highest level. If I am, I’m going to really try to play more events on the PGA Tour and make a push hopefully for the Ryder Cup,” he said. “But if I don’t play well early on, I’ll start to re-evaluate things and maybe play a few more events on the Champions tour because what’s fun for me is competing, getting in contention and trying to win tournaments.”

Ratings: .21 For The Match 3; Averages A Million Viewers

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I have no idea if the organizers find the .21 (18-49) for last week’s The Match 3 a success or not given the bizarre sports ratings of 2020. As Mitch Salem’s roundup of last Friday’s cable numbers highlights, The Match was just edged out by WETV’s Love After Lockup with the coveted demo and landed 8th on the list of November 27, 2020’s most watched cable telecasts.

After the streaming debacle that was The Match 1, the absolute ratings stunner that was The Match 2—a higher rating than the final round of the rescheduled U.S. Open—the average of a million viewers is probably about right for a celebrity golf match.

For the historians who fled the spectacle—and there were many—Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley defeated Peyton Manning and Steph Curry 4&3.

**The final numbers: a .60, but how about those dog show numbers:

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Bryson Will Get Most Of The Early Week Masters Attention, As He Should

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The Bryson DeChambeau show arrived in Augusta for the November Masters and he’s got the 201 mph ball speed ready to go:

On top of that, DeChambeau’s recent round at the course included some eye-opening approach yardages:

Of course this is all how it should be. The best player in the world right now is arriving at Augusta National with a game and distances like we’ve never seen. The opportunity to dismantle the place and render the course obsolete is real. That is easily the top storyline and one most of us who’ve seen the distance complacence by multiple governing bodies come to this fruition (including during Masters Chairman Fred Ridley’s USGA days).

Now, whether this assault on the place and focus on one player is what the Lords of Augusta like, is another thing.

Then again, Phil Mickelson was putting with a fairway wood on Sunday so…

Phil Unveils A $69 Hat (Antimicrobial Triple Quilted Sweatband Included)

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5300 or so fellow owners enjoyed a Breeders Cup Classic win today and I thought of buying a $49 “Authentic” hat to commemorate. But that’s a lot for a cap. Unless, you’re Phil Mickelson and Melin.

For $69 ($82 and change after shipping/taxes), this Melin cap armed with Mickelson’s logo is now available and will help your game. After all, it repels water and helps for those morning workouts when you don’t want to take a shower, according to the hall-of-famer. Operators should be standing by to take your order for just three easy payments of $32.99!

Warning! Here’s the launch video with several gratuitous calf shots.

**Club Pro Guy has already countered with a competing lid.

Was This The Last Of Tiger And Phil On A Sunday?

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Both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are working as hard as ever to prepare for the 2020 Masters.

At the 2020 ZOZO Championship and played at Sherwood Country Club, Mickelson was his usual gale force of energy working his coffee/launch monitor/intense warm-ups. Each ZOZO day Tiger was visible in the fitness trailer (doors open for ventilation!) preparing his body ready for play.

Still, Sunday’s late back nine grouping with Adam Long featured plenty of mediocre golf by their lofty standards and a sense that weekend groups featuring the two legends will be rare.

Rex Hoggard writes for GolfChannel.com:

It was a starkly unceremonious end for the two legends who were grouped together in a PGA Tour event for the 38th time. Sixteen strokes off the lead to start the final round of the Zozo Championship, this was a formality. It also was likely the anti-climactic end to a largely anti-climactic head-to-head history between the two titans.

They’ll find themselves in a manufactured group for Rounds 1 and 2 at an event starved for attention somewhere down the road, but the chances of the duo landing together in a meaningful weekend tee time is about as likely as the two sharing a plane ride home.

Tiger was pleased with his putting that did look infinitely more relaxed on the greens as of late, though he still has a tendency to put a pop stroke on the ball. That, combined with really sporatic iron play, will need serious work if he’s to defend his Masters win.

From Steve DiMeglio’s Golfweek account of the Woods/Mickelson grouping.

“The only thing I can take out of this week that I did positively I feel like each and every day and pretty much every hole is I putted well,” said Woods, the defending champion who finished with rounds of 76-66-71-74 and 22 shots behind winner Patrick Cantlay. The 76 and 74 were two of the three worst rounds he’s ever shot at Sherwood in 52 rounds. He won five times here and finished runner-up five times in 12 starts heading into this week. “I feel like I rolled it great. Unfortunately, most of them were for pars and a couple for bogeys here and there, but not enough for birdies.”

Woods has just one top-10 this year in eight starts.

Mickelson’s drive remains admirable but on-course swing looks strained and way too long at times. After the round, he gave an assessment and schedule plans heading to Augusta.

PHIL MICKELSON: Yeah, I have some pretty good direction on where I need to go with my game and I'll take this week to work on it and try to apply it the week before. I'll go home, talk to Amy, see what course is sort of best suited to get me ready, which one allows me to hit more drivers maybe. Like to hit some mid irons, but also like to chip and putt. I'm not sure. I know nothing about Memorial Park. I have played Phoenix Country Club quite a bit, but I'll see what course is best to get ready and I'll do that. But this week I'll take to work on a couple of things and, you know, see if I can get my game sharper.

Mickelson Not So Sure About Playing In Front Of Fans, May Chose Champions Tour For Pre-Masters Prep

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With the Houston Open benefiting the Astros* Foundation set to welcome 2000 fans a day at a hefty price, Phil Mickelson added another wrinkle to the imminent return of galleries.

The perennial week-before-a-major player says he’s not so sure about returning in front of galleries and risking exposure that could force a Masters WD.

Speaking before the ZOZO Championship, Mickelson said he’s mulling options.

“I think the PGA TOUR's done an incredible job, I mean an incredible job of getting the players to play and compete in a safe environment,” he said. “We've had a few people test positive. It has not spread from those people. They've kept everybody at a good social distance so if somebody does have it, it hasn't affected and carried through the Tour. I think they've done a phenomenal job of having us feel safe.I think that they will do a very good, safe job in having 2,000 people at the Houston Open. However, for me personally, I don't like the risk that having that happen the week before the Masters. I just feel like the week before the Masters, like that's a big tournament we have and I just don't want to have any risk heading in there. So it has made me question whether or not I'll play there.”

Mickelson later reiterated he would likely play the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Challenge in Phoenix as long as fans were not part of the equation.

Rory McIlroy has previously suggested he’s not sure when he’d be comfortable playing in front of fans again.