Winner: Phil Mickelson
Around the wider world of golf: It was a weekend for droughts to be ended, so let's go from shortest to longest. George Coetzee ended a two-year drought at the Tshwane Open on the ET; Michelle Wie ended an almost four-year drought at the HSBC Women's World Championship on the LPGA; Steve Stricker ended a six-year drought at the Cologuard Classic on the Champions Tour; and Meghan MacLaren got her first pro win at the Women’s New South Wales Open on the LET while Daniel Nisbet got his first pro win at the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open on the Asian Tour -- which I guess, since she's 23 and he's 27, could be considered the longest droughts of the bunch.
And Phil, of direction, ended a nearly five-yr drought along with his WGC-Mexico win. Now THAT'S how you end a protracted drought! (Okay, perhaps a primary might were better. Still...)
I won't try to summarize the final round since we'll likely be seeing replays of it (and Michelle's win, which was an equally big event on the LPGA but a shorter drought) for the next week or so. And I'm okay with that. There are wins which set the tone for a season, and this is the season for the youngsters to face the comebacks of the players they idolized, who shaped their games...
And who now want them to know what it feels like to be beaten by them! Isn't that what made them idols in the first place?
Part of what makes this "Year of the Comeback" so exciting to me is the timing -- it is going on right before fundamental season, which adds but any other layer to the more and more tight opposition on all of the tours. Because we are now seeing the figureheads of the ultimate couple of a long time flex their muscle tissue a piece and make the youngsters sit up straight and take note.
Trust me, Justin Thomas might not quickly forget about that Phil "the Thrill" Mickelson simply ran him down no matter a sixty two-sixty four weekend and then beat him in a playoff. And all of them understand that Tiger turned into watching, and all of them know how these have spurred each other on in the past...
Oh yes, that is shaping up to be a excellent season!
So I'll really publish Phil's lengthy-overdue Limerick Summary and observe that Phil has given us thrills for so long, it's approximately time he had some of his own. Walter Hagen, be careful -- Phil is after your spot at the all-time winners' listing!
The long years when you consider that Muirfield left Phil
With seconds aplenty, however still
He turned into hungry to win,
Hold a trophy once more.
It’s about time that Phil got a thrill! The photo came from this page at skysports.com.
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