Mickelson to miss Open cut in possible final shot

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LAS VEGAS — When you get a free roll in Las Vegas, you take it. So it perhaps aptly comes to pass that Jordan Spieth feels like he’s “free-rollingâ€� it as he looks to kick start his season at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The former FedExCup champion is coming off the first season of his career where he failed to make the TOUR Championship, being edged out by one spot thanks in the main part to his first winless season since 2014. Put bluntly, it was a very non-Spieth-like season. We’ve become accustomed to him winning. He’s done it 11 times on TOUR since his breakout rookie season in 2013 when he was a winner as a baby-faced 19-year-old. Even in 2014 — when he didn’t claim a TOUR title — he did win in the fall. It just happened to be at the Australian Open and then the Hero World Challenge. Most players who could point to a 31st place finish in the FedExCup as their worst in six seasons would be smiling. But with Spieth we expect more. And that external expectation used to grate on him a little. He was turning on sports commentary shows and seeing a heavy reliance on comparison talk. Comparing a player or team from now to before. Comparing one athlete to another. He has since come to realize that getting caught up in the, “what have you done for me lately,â€� crowd was not helping his psyche. “With the improved access that any person has via social media to an athlete, if you fall into that comparison talk it only hurts you,â€� Spieth explained as he prepares to make the first domestic fall start of his PGA TOUR career.  
“Using comparisons is unrealistic, especially in a sport like golf where you have so much that can happen so quickly. Seems like the questions I’ll get are people getting very caught up in a what have you done for me lately and your last tournament perspective. I’ll be honest, for a little while that kind of stuff got to me.â€� So has this now 25-year old matured past that now? Trying to force a win when you don’t have your best game is not going to work out. So rather than be overly frustrated with last season, he is trying to see the long-term benefits. He addressed some mechanical issues in his game — some he would talk about, others he will keep to himself. “It was a building year. I look back at last year as something that I think will be beneficial for me in the long run,â€� he said. “I really believe that. I know that’s an easy thing to say looking at kind of the positive in a negative, but there were tangible, mechanical things that I needed to address, and I was able to throughout the season. I feel like I’m free rolling this year.
 “Just having an elongated perspective, more patient view of things, helps free me up personally.â€� One of those tangible things was his putting. The guy who seemed to make everything with the putter all of a sudden wasn’t making everything. We saw nine misses from three feet. Nine. In the three full seasons prior to that, he missed just six of them combined. It left him ranked 136th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting — unfathomable for a guy who ranked second in 2016 and inside the top 40 from 2014 through 2017. “It’s physical. It really is,â€� Spieth said. “It’s a discomfort in setup that takes away from commitment through the stroke. If you’re not committed through the stroke you’re not going to make putts. It doesn’t matter what range they are. “It was every single length I missed more than I did the previous years combined. So you just fix it into the more committed stroke and clears up everything.â€� The truth is his work on the greens was looking up in the back half of the season. While in nine of his first 11 measured tournaments last year he lost strokes to the field putting, seven of his last eight were in the positive — including ranking second at the PGA Championship. “When I’m kind of back into the same positioning, the same look, the same timing, same stroke feel that I’ve had for the last five, ten years, minus a bit last season, then my confidence is probably as high as anybody’s on the greens,â€� he said. “Certainly not ideal … last year’s putting stats. But necessary for elongated peak performance going forward.
 “It was nice to sit back and kind of go through the checks and balances and fix what needs to be fixed.â€�
 But the focus has not been solely on the putter. Spieth has put a huge asterisk on his driving accuracy, and feels just a slight improvement could bear plenty of fruit. He was ranked 54th last season in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and 98th in driving accuracy at 61.29 percent. His mark of 67.8 percent accuracy in 2013 remains his career best. “My rookie season I think was my best statistical driving season,â€� Spieth said. “I think I ranked in the top 15 in strokes gained off the tee (he was 7th). I hit it five yards further now yet have not sniffed a top 15 in that category. So that’s a goal. “That’s something that I’m certainly focused on, is trying to hit more fairways. If I can get to 65 percent in my fairways I move up to the top 15 in strokes gained, and the rest of my game will come around to play from those positions and have a chance to win golf tournaments.â€�

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The seventh of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic. It begins on Friday. Scroll for tournament notes and 21 notables from the field of 78 in Duluth, Georgia. As gamers, we are compelled to pigeonhole golfers into a finite set of bins. It helps keep all of our thoughts organized and it’s time-effective. However, correlation is primarily an exercise in making broad strokes and taking shortcuts. In reality, every golfer is unique with a profile as it pertains to all of the known variables every time he competes. This brings us to Luke Donald at the RBC Heritage. For one, as rapidly as you want to connect dots between fellow 40somethings/Englishmen Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, both of whom recent winners of PGA TOUR events, and even World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship winner Phil Mickelson, also a contemporary, none of them possessed the kind of epic course history at the sites of their titles as Donald has at Harbour Town Golf Links. It’s a relevant narrative to carry a casual conversation, but it’s an improper fantasy angle. It also disregards Donald’s extended poor form upon arrival for his 10th consecutive appearance (and 13th overall) on Hilton Head Island. Each of the other three guys had been performing with some degree of promise in advance of their victories. Yet, Donald, who sits 196th in the Official World Golf Ranking and surrendered the title of “low Luke” to Luke List (currently 67th) at the conclusion of 2017, shapes up strongest among the foursome in consumer confidence entering their respective tournaments. There isn’t a better test to determine if, when you paint your broad strokes, you prefer course history over recent form. And it’s not so much the logic, it’s the comfort level after you’ve pulled the trigger. If you have gamer’s remorse, well, there you go. Just as he was last year, Donald is my pick. If you don’t like it, ask yourself if you’re stereotyping for whatever motivation. My fantasy Rule No. 3 is to remain fluid. In his case, if you haven’t already, it means to open your mind to the creation of a new category (for you) for which Donald is the only member. He’s an extreme and he exists. It’s not like he’s suddenly forgotten how to play golf. He’s remained busy and he’s not injured. Perhaps best of all, he’s yet to reach paydirt. Despite that manifesto, if I was pacing my little league, I’d stick with the chalk of Matt Kuchar. Indeed, Donald is for gamers in pursuit since front-runners won’t trust him because of the absence of good form. Remember, good form is why front-runners are front-runners. If you’re chasing and still can’t trust Donald, Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton present as meaty options who are still solidifying their value in our world. Both check boxes of previous experience and relative success at Harbour Town along with a strong upswing in form. Because of the breadth of the field, two-man gamers should take the position of striking with a pair of primaries instead of the usual 1-2 punch. My Power Rankings is littered with an array of options. For the sake of time and space, lean on Future Possibilities below for all notables and schedule accordingly. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES  NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Paul Casey … Travelers (4); WGC-Bridgestone (5); Dell Technologies (2); TOUR Championship (3) Kevin Chappell … Valero (1; defending); St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Luke Donald … Heritage (1) Jason Dufner … Fort Worth (2); Memorial (3; defending); U.S. Open (4); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7) Jim Furyk … Heritage (1); Memorial (7); U.S. Open (8); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (2); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); TOUR Championship (4) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Brian Harman … Fort Worth (4); John Deere (3) Charley Hoffman … Heritage (7); Houston (5); Valero (1); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (2); Canadian (3) Billy Horschel … Valero (3); St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Dustin Johnson … Memorial (12); St. Jude (8); U.S. Open (13); Canadian (10); WGC-Bridgestone (14); PGA Championship (9); Dell Technologies (11); TOUR Championship (6) Zach Johnson … Fort Worth (2); John Deere (1); Open Championship (5); WGC-Bridgestone (6); TOUR Championship (8) Chris Kirk … Valero (4); PLAYERS (3); Fort Worth (2) Kevin Kisner … Heritage (4); Fort Worth (1; defending); Memorial (5); Wyndham (6) Russell Knox … Heritage (2); PLAYERS (8); Dell Technologies (7) Matt Kuchar … Heritage (1); Valero (10); PLAYERS (11); Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Martin Laird … Valero (7); Barracuda (1) Marc Leishman … Fort Worth (7); Memorial (5); Travelers (2); Open Championship (1) Graeme McDowell … Heritage (4); WGC-Bridgestone (3) William McGirt … Heritage (1); Memorial (4) Francesco Molinari … PLAYERS (2) Ryan Moore … Travelers (2); John Deere (3); TOUR Championship (6) Kevin Na … Heritage (6); Memorial (10); John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Ryan Palmer … Valero (1); Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Charl Schwartzel … Memorial (4); U.S. Open (5); Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (2) Webb Simpson … Wells Fargo (7); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (8); Greenbrier (5); Wyndham (1) Brandt Snedeker … Heritage (10); Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Kevin Streelman … Wells Fargo (3); Memorial (1); Travelers (2) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Mitsubishi Electric Classic Now in its sixth edition, each has been contested at TPC Sugarloaf, former home of the AT&T Classic on the PGA TOUR from 1997-2008. The course is a stock par 72 tipping at 7,179 yards. Stephen Ames is defending his first title on the PGA TOUR Champions. His 15-under 201 is the tournament record. All five prior champions of the Mitsubishi Electric Classic are scheduled to play. Since winning the inaugural event in 2013, Bernhard Langer has added a trio of runner-up finishes. Scott McCarron is the only winner of the TOUR stop at TPC Sugarloaf who is competing this week. He prevailed in both 1997 and 2001, but he’s yet to pick one off as a senior. Total prize money of $1.8 million hasn’t changed since the tournament’s inception. The winner will pocket $270,000. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Stephen Ames … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (1; defending); Insperity (4); Principal (8); U.S. Senior Open (6); Boeing (2); Shaw (7) Billy Andrade … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (5); Bass Pro Shops (4) Joe Durant … Bass Pro Shops (5); Insperity (15); Principal (2); American Family (8); U.S. Senior Open (7); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (6); DICK’S (12); Boeing (10); Shaw (11); PURE (3); SAS (13) David Frost … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (6); Bass Pro Shops (3); U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Fred Funk … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (4); Bass Pro Shops (1); Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (6); PURE (5) Doug Garwood … SAS (1) Paul Goydos … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (6); Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (7); 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Miguel Angel Jiménez … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (2); Insperity (13); Senior PGA (6); Principal (10); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (3); Senior Open Championship (4); 3M (9); Shaw (7); SAS (12) Jerry Kelly … Boeing (1; defending); Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Bernhard Langer … Usable everywhere. Defending five titles. Billy Mayfair … Boeing (2); PURE (1) Scott McCarron … Regions Tradition (2); Senior PGA (11); Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Colin Montgomerie … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (5); Senior PGA (1); U.S. Senior Open (6); SENIOR PLAYERS (2); Senior Open Championship (10); Shaw (4); PURE (7); SAS (3; defending) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal Charity (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Gene Sauers … Insperity (7); Regions Tradition (3); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Vijay Singh … Bass Pro Shops (4; defending); Senior PGA (3); U.S. Senior Open (2); Shaw (5); SAS (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (2); SAS (4) Kirk Triplett … Insperity (2); Regions Tradition (6); American Family (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); Shaw (4) Duffy Waldorf … Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (4); Principal (6); Shaw (5)

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