‘It’s a pretty big fall’: How everything changed for Phil Mickelson in just one year

LA QUINTA, Calif. – Jon Rahm didn’t want to return to PGA West on Monday. He took care of that with a 12-foot birdie putt that ended a dramatic, back-and-forth playoff with underdog Andrew Landry. Neither player missed a green in the four holes of sudden-death that were needed to decide the CareerBuilder Challenge. Rahm was the first one to finally sink a birdie putt on the Stadium Course’s 18th green, which was ensconced in shadows as the sun sank further behind the Santa Rosa Mountains. The victory moved Rahm to No. 2 in both the FedExCup and Official World Golf Ranking. It was his second victory on the PGA TOUR, coming four days before he begins his title defense at the Farmers Insurance Open. He now has two wins and a runner-up in his past three worldwide starts. “I would like to win one … on the PGA TOUR the old-fashioned way, (and) not stress out on the last few holes,â€� Rahm, 23, said. “But, to be honest I couldn’t have dreamed of a better way to do it. Tournaments like this build character.â€� Rahm started the final round two shots off the lead, but shot a final-round 67 to finish at 22-under 266. Landry, playing in the final group, made an 11-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force extra holes. He shot 68 on Sunday. Landry was like the Jacksonville Jaguars, giving the heavy favorite all it could handle Sunday. Landry is a Web.com Tour graduate who began the week ranked 184th in the Official World Golf Ranking. Rahm has been one of the game’s stars in his brief pro career that began less than two years ago. Landry’s longest birdie putt on the four playoff holes was 22 feet. He was unable to convert any of them, though. “That was outstanding to play the way he did,â€� Rahm said. “Hitting right after me every single time and to hit the fairway and the green right after me, it’s really hard to do, it’s not easy. The pressure was on him 80 percent of the time.â€� Rahm missed a 9-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole after Landry missed from 17 feet. It was Landry who missed a shot putt on the next hole, failing to convert from 8 feet. Both players two-putted the next hole, the par-4 10th, before they knocked their approach shots close on their third trip to No. 18 in the playoff. “I did not want to come back the next day and play,â€� Rahm said. “After Andrew hit his shot, I had a good angle and a good lie in the rough, so I decided to take dead aim and hope for the best.â€� Rahm made his 12-foot birdie putt, and Landry failed to convert from a foot closer. Like the AFC Championship, the heavy favorite finally prevailed. OBSERVATIONS Final group: Landry didn’t follow his fellow Austin Cook, his fellow Razorback, into the winner’s circle, but he handled himself well in the final group. He was Rahm’s toughest competition Sunday, making five birdies and just a single bogey in the final round on PGA West’s Stadium Course. His bogey at the par-3 sixth hole was his only bogey of the tournament. His runner-up at the CareerBuilder came just two starts after he finished T4 at The RSM Classic. He ranks 11th in the FedExCup. This was Landry’s first time in the final group since he played alongside eventual winner Dustin Johnson in Sunday’s final group at the 2016 U.S. Open. Landry shot 78 that day to drop to 15th place. This time, he almost walked away with his first PGA TOUR title. Landry lost his TOUR card in 2016 but earned it back by finishing fourth on the Web.com Tour money list. Hark Week: Brandon Harkins, a 31-year-old who played his college golf at a small Division II school in Northern California, continues to impress in his rookie PGA TOUR season. Harkins shot 70 on Sunday to finish T8 and move to 32nd in the FedExCup standings. Harkins, an alum of Chico State, has finished in the top 25 in five of seven starts this season. The CareerBuilder was his second top-10 of the season. Harkins, who turned pro in 2010, didn’t play his first Web.com Tour season until last year. He needed just one season on that circuit to graduate, finishing 21st on the money list after a runner-up finish at the Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae, just 38 minutes from his hometown of Walnut Creek, California. RAHM’S EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS CALL OF THE DAY Notables Patton Kizzire – The FedExCup leader shot a final-round 72 to finish T42 at 11-under 277. It was just his second finish outside the top 15 in his past seven starts. Austin Cook – Cook, the 54-hole leader, shot a final-round 75 to finish T14. The PGA TOUR rookie was seeking his second victory of the season (RSM Classic), but he made two double-bogeys in the final round and only two birdies. Brendan Steele – The native of nearby Idyllwild shot a final-round 68 to jump 22 spots into a tie for 20th. He held onto the eighth position in the FedExCup. Zach Johnson – The two-time major winner also finished T20, his sixth consecutive top-25 finish. QUOTABLES So far I’ve only lost against Superman this year.I played pretty good. I didn’t throw up on myself or do anything crazy. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 8-under 64 – Sam Saunders made nine birdies, and just a single bogey, to shoot the low round of the day by two shots. Saunders, who started the day on No. 10, made birdie on six of his final eight holes to jump from T42 to T8. Longest drive: Keith Mitchell hit a 332-yard drive on the Stadium Course’s par-5 16th hole. He only had 221 yards remaining to the green, but three-putted from 34 feet for par. Mitchell had two of the day’s three longest drives, also hitting one 328 yards on the par-5 eighth hole (he got up-and-down from a bunker for birdie). Mitchell shot 74 and finished T69. Rahm hit a 330-yard drive on the par-5 eighth hole en route to a par. Longest putt: 62 feet – Kevin Na holed a long one for birdie on the par-4 15th hole. He shot 2-under 70 on Sunday en route to a T42 finish. Easiest hole: The 559-yard, par-5 eighth hole played to a 4.51 scoring average, allowing two eagles and 36 birdies to the 77 players who competed Sunday. Hardest hole: The 210-yard, par-3 13th hole played to a 3.46 scoring average. Rahm’s birdie there was one of just eight on the hole. There were 21 bogeys and nine scores of double-bogey or worse. Only 35 percent of the field (27 of 77) hit the green Sunday.

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Rory McIlroy is a well-read man, and he likes to tell people that he knows “a little about a lot.” On golf, on business matters of the PGA TOUR, and even about the golf course at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, home to this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, he could hold an advanced doctorate. It took McIlroy some time to get to Arnie’s Place, but once he visited, played, soaked in the meaning and was able to spend some quality time with the tournament namesake before Palmer’s passing in 2016, he was sold on everything about it. Course conditions the past few years have been firm, dry and windy – it’s a little softer so far this March – and Bay Hill can be an intimidator, the way that Palmer always wanted it. But the mop-haired McIlroy, now 32, just seems to whistle along at this venue. For him, the course is one in which he can stay within himself, take care of the friendly par 5s, play smartly on the tougher holes and more often than not produce a good score. Seven times in seven years he has fired 66 or better, including a final-round 64 in 2018, when he won. McIlroy has finished T11 or better in six of his seven visits. His winning total of 16-under 270 in ’18 stands as the lowest 72-hole score at Bay Hill since 2015. With his trophy and winner’s share ($1.6 million then, $2.16 million this week, along with 550 FedEx Cup points) came the champion’s red cardigan sweater, a nod to Palmer’s fashionable side. It remains a treasured piece of McIlroy’s “trophy” collection. “I haven’t broken it out since then – it’s a little scratchy and wouldn’t be comfortable on the skin,” McIlroy said of the alpaca sweater. “The tradition, the cardigan, I think it’s one of the coolest trophies that we have in golf. I wish Arnold would have been around to be with me on the 18th green then. That would have been the icing on the cake.” McIlroy, a 20-time PGA TOUR winner who is ranked fifth in the world, does not have much in terms of a sample size to his 2021-22 season. That will change soon with a handful of bigger events looming, starting with the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship next week, and running up toward the Masters, the lone major standing between him and the Career Grand Slam. His two official PGA TOUR starts this season include a victory at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT, and a tie for 10th at The Genesis Invitational two weeks ago, where he shot 67-68 on the weekend. His reunion with his longtime swing coach, Michael Bannon, after the two were apart for most of 2021, has led to McIlroy being more cognizant of what his left arm is doing in his backswing, and he has tried to become more “neutral” at the top. That’s the golfspeak of his world. More simply, he wants to contend more often and regain the uber-confidence that made him world No. 1. He aims to become more consistent, and to win major championships again. Major No. 4 (his last) was at the PGA Championship in the summer of 2014, a considerable drought. He has won two FedExCups and THE PLAYERS since, but his Career Grand Slam quest continues. “I’ve driven the ball pretty well,” McIlroy said. “I’ve seen a bit of improvement in iron play. My short game’s been really good. If anything, just getting the consistency to a point where I feel like I can play like that day in and day out. But the game feels good, so just sort of trying to keep doing what I’m doing.” On Wednesday afternoon, after his pro-am and a few media obligations, McIlroy was headed to the chipping area next to the practice green behind the Bay Hill clubhouse, where pictures of Palmer adorn the walls. This year’s course setup at API includes replacing some of the tightly-mown runoff areas near the green complexes with thick rough. Greens can be hard to hit at Bay Hill; McIlroy said the new setup “is definitely a different test than the one in previous years.” McIlroy had shared his Bay Hill game plan with world No. 1 Jon Rahm, who is here for the first time. He told Rahm how he could play conservatively as long as he attacks on the par 5s. Rahm could hit iron off the tee at the par-4 10th, for instance, and maybe on a few other holes, McIlroy advised. The two stood together on the tee at Bay Hill’s par-5 sixth because of a backup on Wednesday. Rahm: “I said, Rory, where are the irons? I’m hitting driver on every single hole!” (Later, Rahm would add, “It’s a great golf course. I can see why Tiger won so many times here.”) In McIlroy’s group on Wednesday was former Major League Baseball knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who showed off a World Series ring to the group. Wakefield is a pretty decent golfer. When he received a call on Tuesday night that informing him of the pairing, he immediately phoned his wife, very excited, much the way a 10-year-old kid might. “HEY, GUESS WHO I’M PLAYING WITH TOMORROW!!!” he started. “Impressive,” was the word that Wakefield kept using to describe McIlroy after their round. Wakefield was asked if he was surprised that so much power can be generated by a player so relatively small in stature – McIlroy is 5 feet 10, and weighs 160 pounds, but was second on TOUR in Driving Distance last season (319.3 yards). He wasn’t. “He knows how to generate the power with what he has,” Wakefield said. “I’ve pitched against guys his size who hit homers a long ways. It’s all a matter of timing, and how he does it.” McIlroy’s emergence as a marquee regular at Arnie’s Place has been about great timing, too. He will be a crowd favorite this week, a thoughtful player with boatloads of charisma. (Sound familiar?) McIlroy is glad he is here. He gets it. The meaning of the week, and Arnold Palmer, isn’t lost on him. He’d absolutely love another one of those itchy red sweaters. “We all know what Arnold Palmer means to the PGA TOUR, and to the game of golf in general,” McIlroy said. “So, it’s always nice to be here and try to sort of remember his legacy, and remember what he meant to everyone. He was probably the catalyst with maybe a few other guys of why we’re here today, and why the game of professional golf is at such a high level.” At Bay Hill, Rory McIlroy knows a lot about a lot.

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