Mackay On Sunday's Decisions

Thanks to reader Noonan for this Mark Cannizzaro exclusive chat with Jim "Bones" Mackay, Phil Mickelson's longtime caddie.

"There was never even a consideration about hitting anything but driver," Mackay told The Post yesterday. "Phil hits his 4-wood no more than about 240 yards. A 4-wood into a 10- to 15-mile-per-hour wind uphill is going to go about 225 yards. There was no possible way to hit 4-wood long enough to reach the dogleg if he missed the fairway."

Mackay said Mickelson, who had hit just two of the previous 13 fairways, and he were well aware of what was taking place ahead of them.

"We saw [Geoff] Ogilvy hit his second shot and were guessing that he hadn't put it on the green because he didn't look thrilled with it and we never heard the crowd roar," Mackay said. "With [Colin Montgomerie], we heard from TV guys that he had a 10-foot putt for a five, and 60 seconds later we heard the crowd groan.

"So we knew that 4-over was going to win the tournament, and Phil was not playing for a tie."

 Mackay pointed to the fact that the reason Mickelson kept using driver was that it gave him a better chance to get the ball onto the green.