Love, money, revenge and reward – just some of the biggest motivating factors in any victory.
But for Phil Mickelson it seems that when it comes to getting himself psyched up for run-of-the-mill PGA Tour events – none of the above can get his gearbox roaring.
Even the prospect of overtaking Tiger Woods at the top, finally reaching No.1 in the world – the best player in golf – was not enough to motivate Lefty to victory at a Tigerless Colonial.
So what does it for him? What does it take to inspire Mickelson to those jaw-dropping, fist pumping victories that see him pull off superman-style heroics from pine needles and drop eagles and birdies like there’s no tomorrow?
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World No.1 Tiger Woods’ cloak is on a shaky peg – and England’s Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey plan to unscrew it for good.
The English trio believe Woods’ 258-week run at the top of the tree is fast-nearing its end. Begging the question – which one of the monkeys on his back will reach the top of that tree first? Three’s a crowd, after all.
On merits, it would appear that Westwood would be the favourite. The nearly-man of the Masters, pipped at the post at the Players, that big win is surely just around the corner for Westwood. And, as the current world No.3, he is the closest of the three to catching Tiger’s tail.
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So, the first major of 2010 has come and gone – and what an event it was. But who gets pass marks and who flunked badly at Augusta National…
Phil Mickelson: A+
A more worthy winner you’d have struggled to find. The emotional post-script notwithstanding, the left-hander played some utterly sublime golf at times and had a putter hotter than the surface of the sun. He’s now just three Green Jackets short of Jack Nicklaus’ record of six wins at Augusta and, with his unmatched local knowledge around Georgia’s most famous course, who’d bet against him matching or even passing that tally?
Tiger Woods, The Golfer: B
Twenty weeks and not a competitive ball struck in anger. Then he turns up at one of the world’s most notoriously unforgiving courses and still shoots 11-under-par. Yes, the putting was uncharacteristically inconsistent and, yes, some of shots were most un-Tiger-like. However, let’s not forget that up until he had a brain-fart over a four-footer on the back nine, he was still bang in contention. World No.1 or otherwise, that’s mighty impressive. Read more…
As the fallout ensues surrounding Doug Barron’s suspension from the PGA Tour, we are, again, being treated to the well-versed dispute as to whether golf, like athletics and cycling, will see the benefit of drug testing.
Tiger Woods is in no doubt.
“I heard about it [Barron's ban]. It’s unfortunate, but that is one of the reasons why we have the policy to make sure no-one does anything that’s improper for the game of golf and I think that it is great that we have the policy in place,” said the world No.1.
“I don’t know if he tested for performance-enhancing or recreational, but the whole idea is to keep our sport clean and that is why we created the policy and it has been executed and unfortunately one player didn’t obey the policy.”
Supportive as he may be of golf’s foray into the prevention of substance misuse, he alludes to one fact that throws into perspective the credibility of what is a damning indictment of journeyman Barron. Read more…