Off the Fringe
Off the Fringe
LAST weekend's PGA Championship in Atlanta failed to provide the "major" breakthrough that lefty Phil Mickelson had hoped it would. Only monkey on
Mickelson’s back is mediaWhen David Toms drilled home his winning par putt at the Atlanta Athletic Club, denying Mickelson the chance to win his first major championship, golf analysts everywhere solemnly noted that "the monkey is still on Phil's back."
The press would have us believe that the "monkey" Mickelson is trying to shake is the label, "Best Player Never to Have Won a Major." And while, ostensibly, that's true, I'm here to tell you that the real monkey is the media.
At 31, Mickelson, has already won 19 tour events and is second in the Sony World Rankings behind Tiger Woods. He has a slew of endorsements, his own jet, and a new $6 million dollar mansion in Arizona. But until he wins his first major -- the game's measure of greatness --the press will continue to refer to him as a pretender -- the Best Player Never to Have Won a Major.
Mickelson is not the first golfer to carry the designation. Payne Stewart, Tom Kite, Tom Lehman, Davis Love III and, most recently, David Duval, all wore and shed the label before him. Now it is just Mickelson --and a national press that won't allow him to forget it. Media attention on Mickelson has become so suffocating it not only threatens to overshadow an otherwise brilliant career, it threatens to put a permanent damper on it.
Some of the criticism of Mickelson's play in the majors is justified. He often doesn't know when to dial back his aggressive style of play, which makes him erratic, and down the stretch he tends to get loose with his driver and to stab short putts.
But other criticisms have been excessive. He has been called "good at making paychecks but not history." And earlier this summer, after he failed to win the U.S. Open, one writer questioned his dedication because on the eve of the tournament he threw a big birthday party for his 2-year-old daughter.
Part of Mickelson's problem is that he was once America's young phenom. He won both the U.S. Amateur and the NCAA championship as a freshman at Arizona State, and his first PGA Tour event while he was still a junior.
The fact that he is now 31 and still winless in the majors makes it seem as if his talent has gone unfulfilled.
In golf, however, winning majors in your twenties is the exception. Most players reach their prime in their thirties. And a host of players have continued to win majors on into their forties.
Mickelson lost the 1999 U.S. Open when Payne Stewart ran in a winning uphill par putt on him on the final hole. This past year he gave himself a chance to win three majors -- the Masters, the U.S. Open and the PGA. At the latter he played well enough to win.
The beleaguered lefty is making progress, closing the holes in his game. Still, he needs to have a major breakthrough --and he needs to have it soon. Otherwise, that monkey is going to become a gorilla.