It’s so quiet at Masters, you can hear a chip crunch

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Phil Mickelson has often said he owes a lot to Tiger Woods. The 50-year-old knows Woods helped golf’s popularity soar, and with it, so did the purses and exposure for sponsorship opportunities. This allowed someone as successful as Mickelson to have a very fruitful career. But as Mickelson returns to the PGA TOUR at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD this week, fresh off claiming his second PGA TOUR Champions win in as many starts, he was praising Woods for another aspect of his own career. His longevity. Mickelson has been competitive on TOUR since winning as an amateur in 1991. "Looking back, I wish I had been a little bit more committed fitness‑wise in the height of my career… (but) Tiger pushed me to start training a little bit more, which has helped me elongate my career," Mickelson said Wednesday at Sherwood Country Club. During the last few years, Mickelson has significantly added length to his game despite his age, but while he wished he'd been even fitter, he says he doesn't regret not chasing "bombs" earlier in his career. As Bryson DeChambeau sets new marks for ball speed and distance, Mickelson says it just wouldn't have been feasible in his time. "During the prime of my career we really didn’t have launch monitors, so we weren’t able to dial a lot of this stuff in. A lot of this was by feel and seeing the ball and using vision to see, oh, it’s spinning too much, it’s floating. We didn’t have the precision to dial things in the way we do now," Mickelson said. "Now guys that are hitting it in the 180‑mile‑an‑hour ball speeds are getting pushed to go to the 190s because of Bryson and a lot of guys have to do that to keep up." While Mickelson will continue to work on the speed that is comfortable for him and his play, the 44-time TOUR winner is mindful of accuracy with driver. It has been a problem for him throughout his career. "I actually feel there’s a point of diminishing return about 182‑ to 185‑mile‑an‑hour ball speed. I think once you get over that, I don’t know if you’re really getting out of it what you put in, meaning a lot of courses won’t allow for that advantage to be taken if you get in the 190s," Mickelson explained. "Holes dogleg, you have tighter landing areas, there’s only a couple holes a golf course where it can really help you and I feel like most guys are already at that optimum distance of 182‑ to 185‑mile‑an‑hour ball speed." The veteran is full of confidence again after another victory against his former foes. He became just the third player to win in his first two starts on the PGA TOUR Champions with a win in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic last weekend. But he knows he needs to step it up to compete on the PGA TOUR. "I’m excited to compete and come off of last week’s event on (PGA TOUR Champions) and try to play, compete against the young guys. This is a fun opportunity for me," he said. "It’s been really fun for me to play and compete on (PGA TOUR Champions), a lot more so than I thought it would be. I’m surprised how much fun I’m having, how much fun it is to see some of the same guys that I’ve seen for so many years and haven’t had a chance to be with them for a number of years now. I seem to get a little bit of confidence and I’m hoping to bring that over into this event. "But the penalty for a miss is much more severe on the regular TOUR, the pin placements are a little bit more difficult. The length isn’t as different as I thought. We play the back tees on the Champions Tour and it can play every bit as long, but the courses out here are a lot more penalizing. I have to be a little bit more precise."

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Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Left Over Ted Potter, Jr., was the last-man standing Sunday afternoon as he picked up his first win on TOUR since The Greenbrier Classic in 2012. Paired in the final group with Dustin Johnson, the lefty birdied four of his first seven holes and cruised home to victory. He parred his final 11 holes and never saw his lead shrink to less than two on the back nine. It looked to be a daunting task as all Potter had to do on Sunday was beat Johnson head’s up, hold off Phil Mickelson, Jason Day and Chez Reavie and back up his career-best round of 62 Saturday. Check, check and check. And a REALLY BIG CHECK after he signed his card! The key for Potter was saving six chances when he missed GIR in the final round. He kept his nerve with his wedge and his putter and never showed any cracks. Entering this week he played three weekends from eight tries and his best finish was T13. He had only cashed for three other top 10’s before today in his career and one of those was at Riviera, the site of next week’s event. Second Best Dustin Johnson couldn’t beat Ted Potter over 18 holes but his birdie on the final hole helps gamers in both PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game formats. It doesn’t sound great right now, but T2 is better than T6 on every single front. Johnson destroyed the par 5s to the tune of 14-under-par and didn’t win. I write this every week: Golf happens. There are no guarantees. There are more than a few of us who would be out our house, car or whatever this week after Potter’s stunning performance. All Systems Go Jason Day joins Dustin Johnson with the same record after two events this year, Win and T2. Both of them are in the AUTOMATIC category at this event annually as they share 13 combined top-10 finishes between them. Day’s short game, especially the putter, was the difference this week as he led the field in strokes-gained: putting during the two rounds at Pebble Beach. No Signs of Slowing Down Phil Mickelson backed up his T5 at WMPO last week with his 10th top 10 in 22 tries at Pebble Beach with T2. Lefty only made five bogeys (no others) on the week along with 19 circles for birdies. He was the most-selected player in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf One & Done Game presented by SERVPRO and he rewarded those investors handsomely. I was one of them and I will NEVER complain about T2 especially from a guy who hasn’t won since 2013. The last time Mickelson hit the top 10 in three consecutive starts was 2009 and it started with a win at Riviera. Devil in the Details Hey, look! Chez Reavie in the top 10 again! His outstanding run of form can be traced back to the fall of 2016. Similar to former Sun Devil Pat Perez, Reavie’s vein of form isn’t a one-hit wonder but it hasn’t found the winner’s circle, yet. Most guys who lose in a playoff don’t show up the next week but Reavie took his lesson and turned it into T2. The most interesting part of the last two weeks is that he’s doing the business on tracks where he’s never had any success. He’s dialed in regardless of where they’re playing! Run, Don’t Walk Jimmy Walker is going to test the patience and emotions of gamers next week at his beloved Riviera. Walker has made it no secret over the years that this is one of his favorite tracks to play on TOUR. His 67 on Sunday at Pebble Beach, another one of his favorite tracks, included seven birdies against one double to collect his first top-10 check since the 2016 Dell Technologies Championship (third). His round Sunday was six shots better than his round on Saturday on the same track.   Pro-Am Champs Kevin Streelman is doing an excellence Chez Reavie impersonation minus the podium finishes. He did take home the trophy this week with Larry Fitzgerald as they walked over the competition to easily win the Pro-Am. Streelman has been rattling off cuts for fun this season and most of last year but his solo sixth check is the biggest since T4 at the 2016 OHL Mayakoba Classic. Find guys who are playing well instead of breaking streaks of those who are not! Sunday Silence Please remember how great Tiger Woods was in his day before getting mad at the new stars of the game. They won’t close every Sunday. Jon Rahm has been right there the last three Sundays after his win at CareerBuilder.com. The last three Sundays he’s posted 77, 72 and 76 and fallen out of the top 10 each week. Again, nothing is automatic at this level! … Add Beau Hossler to this list for the third consecutive event he’s played in as well. His year has been excellent to this point minus the Sunday conversions but it’s all part of the learning experience. He has PLENTY of game. Study Hall Scott Stallings (7th), Grayson Murray (T8) and Brandon Harkins (T15) shared the low round of the day with 66. Murray hit the top 10 with THREE double bogeys on his card this week. Harkins now has seven top-25 finishes in 10 starts this year while Stallings picks up his first top 10 since last July at the Barbasol Championship. … Brian Gay has posted back-to-back top 10’s after his T8 this week … Paul Casey lost in a playoff to James Hahn at the 2015 edition of the Genesis Open at Riviera. He made his U.S. tune-up this week with T8. … Bubba Watson, two-time winner at Riviera, will be playing in Saturday night’s NBA All-Star Celebrity game. Now you know. … Ben Taylor won the Club Colombia Championship by six shots … Mark Calcavecchia held off Bernhard Langer by two shots to win the Boca Raton Championship on PGA TOUR Champions. … Kiradech Aphibarnrat won the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth.

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