"Now he's a lettuce lover?"

Steve Elling pens a classic column on Phil's stunning, unprompted announcement that he's been suffering from psoriatic arthritis since mid-June and that he's a vegetarian.

If he had announced that he had become a Trappist Buddhist or a card-carrying Democrat, it would not have been more surprising. And this was a day for weirdness, mind you. Two hours earlier, a media guy asked Tiger Woods what it was like to be the "worst golfer in the world."

True story: A friend of mine set up an interview with Mickelson a few years ago and Lefty agreed to hold the discussion in the front of his SUV. Before the writer could climb into the cab of the vehicle, Mickelson had to remove a bunch of McDonalds hamburger wrappers from the seat.

A notorious binge eater, Mickelson, 40, can blow through two or three hamburgers in a sitting faster than some guys blow back-nine leads. Now he's a lettuce lover?