Anna Nordqvist, the 34-year-old Swede who won the Women’s British Open on Sunday, will make a seventh straight appearance on Europe’s Solheim Cup squad with an automatic berth as a result of the victory.
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KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Steve Stricker had a premonition this might happen. It was early in the week, and he and Phil Mickelson were taking on Zach Johnson and Will Zalatoris in a nine-hole match in advance of the 103rd PGA Championship at Kiawah. “Let me just say, Phil did a lot of talking,” Stricker said. “So when Phil does a lot of talking, that means that usually he’s playing well, and him and I beat up on Zach and Will a little bit.” Mickelson is still making plenty of noise halfway through this windswept PGA, which he led after the morning wave after a second-round 69. After starting on the back nine and making the turn at even par, he heated up on his inward nine for the second straight day with a 5-under 31. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Nine Things to Know: Kiawah Island | Once again, 17 provides best theater at Kiawah “I think he has the bit between his teeth,” said Padraig Harrington (73, even par), who played the first 36 holes with Mickelson and Jason Day (75, 5 over). “I think he believes he can do it in these conditions, just like myself. I think myself, Phil would find it easier to compete on this style of golf course in these conditions in a major tournament all the time. “You can be patient in these courses,” he continued, “and obviously you’ve got to make a few birdies, but it suits somebody who is a player, somebody who is thinking.” Mickelson will turn 51 next month, and while he’s dropped to 115th in the world, 168th in the FedExCup, he’s shown some signs of life. He looked like the Phil of old as he shot a first-round 64 to take the lead at the Wells Fargo Championship two weeks ago. But he looked, well, just plain old after that, failing to break 75 as he spiraled down the board into 69th place. Harrington said that he first met Mickelson at the 1991 Walker Cup at Portmarnock Golf Club. Three decades later, Mickelson has won 44 times on the PGA TOUR, including five majors, but with only two wins in the last seven years, he admits his mental game has fallen off. “I’m working on it,” he said. “I’m just making more and more progress just by trying to elongate my focus. I might try to play 36, 45 holes in a day and try to focus on each shot so that when I go out and play 18, it doesn’t feel like it’s that much. I might try to elongate the time that I end up meditating, but I’m trying to use my mind like a muscle and just expand it because as I’ve gotten older, it’s been more difficult for me to maintain a sharp focus, a good visualization and see the shot. “Physically I feel like I’m able to perform and hit the shots that I’ve hit throughout my career,” he added. Occasionally using a 2-wood that he deploys as a fairway finder, Mickelson hit 11 of 14 fairways in the second round. That’s uncannily accurate, for him, and allows him to shine with his irons, the strength of his game. He said he and his caddie/brother Tim have been spot-on with their yardages – Mickelson hit 12 greens in regulation – and was No. 1 in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green as the afternoon wave began. He took a tidy 27 putts for the second straight day. It was his ability to avoid the big miss, though, that stood out. Mickelson, whose best this season is a T21 at the Masters, came into this week 199th in driving accuracy. He admittedly strives to be average in that category, but there’s nothing average about him finding the short grass only 50% of the time. “Yeah, there were no foul balls,” Day said, when asked what he saw from Mickelson the first two days. “Usually with Phil you can get some pretty wide ones, and he kept it straight out in front of him. And his iron play was pretty tight. There was a lot of quality iron shots into the greens.” The only real danger Mickelson got into was as the group was put on the clock for slow play. After he came up just short of the green at the par-3 eighth, microphones picked him up saying he was rushing because he was afraid of getting dinged for a bad time. Alas, he was not, and got up and down for par. After converting from 22 1/2 feet at the ninth for his final birdie of the day, and doing his media hits, he went back out to the practice putting green. He found something in his stroke at the turn, he said, which led to those five late birdies (2, 4, 5, 7, 9). Yes, he’s logged some serious miles on TOUR. Yes, Harrington joked that his caddie, Ronan Flood, asked who Mickelson played in singles in the 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah. (Mickelson wasn’t on those teams yet.) But yes, Phil Mickelson has the bit in his teeth. “He’s not here to make the cut,” Harrington said. “He’s not here to finish – even 15th would be a disappointment. You know what? Even second would be a disappointment for Phil.” He will plot his way around a dastardly Pete Dye design. He will confront players half his age. He will take on himself in an epic battle between the Phil of old and just-plain-old Phil. Which one will win the weekend? That we’re all meditating on that is the surprise of the week.
As the FedExCup Playoffs is concerned, the 11th edition isn’t presenting anything we haven’t seen before, but the combination of unusual facts is unprecedented all the while adhering to the chalk. Jordan Spieth is just the second golfer in Playoffs history to enter the TOUR Championship atop the FedExCup standings without a victory in the Playoffs. Tiger Woods was the first in 2013. Meanwhile, only five golfers who started the series outside the top 30 in points qualified for this week’s 30-man field at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. At least seven climbed in all but once since the first version of the current structure was introduced in 2009. That occurred in 2015 when only four converted. Points have been reset and each of the top five is guaranteed the FedExCup’s $10-million bonus with victory in the finale. So, Spieth, who won the FedExCup in 2015, controls his own destiny to become the second in history to capture multiple titles (Woods, 2007 and 2009). POWER RANKINGS: TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP RANK PLAYER COMMENT Top seed leads the Playoffs in adjusted scoring and strokes gained: tee-to-green. He’s manufactured a season similar to 2014-15, which he concluded with victory at East Lake. Opened 2017 with solo second at Waialae. T2 last week at Conway Farms. Nine top 15s in between. Two seconds and no worse than solo sixth in last four starts at East Lake. THE NORTHERN TRUST champ is third in points. Shared or led outright after all three rounds en route to T6 at East Lake in 2016. Fifth-place finishes in previous two trips. Co-runner-up at the BMW Championship was his eighth top-five finish since February. T5 in the Playoffs in adjusted scoring. One top 10 at East Lake in three appearances. Commanding performance at Conway Farms followed a solo third at TPC Boston. Hasn’t seen East Lake since a T28 in his debut in 2009, but it doesn’t matter. Able to absorb a T47 at Conway Farms as he’s second in FedExCup points. Shared sixth place in TOUR Championship debut last year (after T32 at BMW at Crooked Stick). Horse for the course, but that’s a narrative that could apply almost everywhere in 2017. Four top fives in the last three months alone. Top fives in all three tries at East Lake, too. Fair to label him as a mild surprise to get this far. Opened as the 49-seed and is now 15th. Top 10s in three of last four starts. Three top 10s at East Lake (2011, 2014, 2015). At No. 5 in points, he’s the first debutant since Chris Kirk in 2014 to begin TOUR Championship inside the top 5. The Spaniard has gone a respective T3-T4-T5 in the Playoffs. A T12 at the BMW Championship was his fourth top 15 in his last six starts. Co-led in his debut at East Lake last year before losing in a playoff. Phenomenal story post-anchoring ban and ranks ninth in the Playoffs in strokes gained: putting. Top 10s in three of last four starts. Two top fives at East Lake in four trips. Top 20s in seven of last eight starts dating back to U.S. Open breakthrough. T18 at TPC Boston; T12 at Conway Farms. Second in the Playoffs in birdie-or-better percentage. Remained slump-proof with a T5 at the BMW Championship, his eighth top 10 of 2017. Eighth appearance at East Lake where his only two top 10s are T10s (2012, 2015). In his field-high 10th appearance (ninth at East Lake) but first since a T9 in 2014. Sat out THE NORTHERN TRUST, but wiggled in on a T12 at the BMW Championship. First appearance and the lowest opening seed (78th) to qualify. He’s gone T10-T13-T9, respectively. T2 in the Playoffs in greens in regulation and first in scrambling. Solid not spectacular Playoffs run secured his fifth appearance at East Lake. Top 10s in his last two (2014, 2016). Ranks fourth in these Playoffs in greens in regulation. Making TOUR Championship debut at 41 years young. Enters in spirited form with T6 at TPC Boston and T12 at Conway Farms. Seventh in the Playoffs in strokes gained: putting. First FedExCup points leader at the start of the Playoffs to sit outside the top 5 at East Lake since Nick Watney in 2011. Matsuyama (No. 7) has gone MC-T23-T47 since. Last man inside the bubble dropped 10 slots during the Playoffs despite a T20 at Glen Oaks. Top 10s in his last two appearances at East Lake (2013, 2016). T12 (2015) and T15 (2016) at East Lake, but stumbles in this year without a top 30 in his last four starts. He’s given away nearly two shots in putting per event in the Playoffs. Inside favorite for Rookie of the Year has enjoyed a strong three months since U.S. Open. Includes a pair of top 20s in the Playoffs in which he’s No. 1 in par-5 scoring. Always a threat as a terrific putter, but he’s making his first appearance at East Lake and has just two top-35 finishes in the last four months. After falling outside top 30, got back in with a T7 at the BMW where he ranked third in strokes gained: putting. Fair to wonder how he’ll fare in first go on East Lake’s greens. Scuffling in advance of his debut, surrendering strokes in every facet of the game in the Playoffs. Chased MC at Glen Oaks with T65 at TPC Boston and T40 at Conway Farms. He’s 12th in the Playoffs in strokes gained: tee-to-green, but he may have peaked too soon. Only one top 25 in his last four starts (T17, THE NORTHERN TRUST). Fourth appearance buoyed by late surge, but he’s yet to solve East Lake where his scoring average is 71.75 and he hasn’t broken par in his last eight rounds. One of the quieter qualifiers with only one top 10 in over five months and only one top-35 finish in the last two. Solo 12th in only previous look at East Lake in 2014. Zero top 50s in these Playoffs and no top 25s in last nine Playoffs starts, including both of the last two TOUR Championships, a shocker given East Lake’s Bermuda greens. Tournament debut. Form upon arrival is just OK for the 29-year-old ball-striker. Opened the Playoffs with a pair of T25s before a T47 at the BMW. Capitalized on the format with timely form. Win at Glen Abbey and T3 at Glen Oaks yielded his second trip to East Lake (T24, 2016), but he’s made little noise elsewhere. Returning to the TOUR Championship isn’t easy, but 14 in this week’s field were here last year. However, defending champion Rory McIlroy didn’t qualify. In fact, of all former champions, only Spieth (2015) is in the field. Eight are making their debuts. Aside from the voids left when many mature trees were felled over the winter, East Lake’s changes were minimal, but it will look and set up just as it did last year as a par 70, this time measuring 7,362 yards. That reflects a reduction of 23 yards. The MiniVerde Ultradwarf Bermudagrass greens may run as fast as 12-and-a-half on the Stimpmeter and the Bermudagrass rough has been trimmed to two-and-a-half inches. The 2016 edition of the TOUR Championship was the first in which the nines were reversed for competition. The old par-3 finisher became No. 9. In its place, a par 5 tipping at 590 yards served as the stage for potential heroics. Alas, McIlroy scored a respective 5-5-4-4 on the hole in regulation, while eventual playoff victims Kevin Chappell and Ryan Moore settled for pars in every round. The playoff went four holes, the first two of which at the 18th where McIlroy and Moore pushed with 4-5. Chappell was eliminated with an opening par. Despite the absence of fireworks, the hole averaged 4.581, lowest in history. Among the 117 scores recorded (Jason Day withdrew after one round), three eagles were recorded. Overall, East Lake yielded a scoring average of 69.615 last year. That was a typical split in benign weather conditions. This week’s forecast includes the threat for rain and storms, the greatest landing on Friday. Otherwise favorable elements will serve merely as a backdrop in which the FedExCup champion will be crowned. Tuesday’s Confidence Factor will examine the skills rewarded at East Lake to help identify the latest to join the club. ROB BOLTON’S WRITING SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Columnist Rob Bolton will be filing his usual staples leading up to this week’s event. Look for the following columns this week. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Reshuffle, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: The Confidence Factor, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done THURSDAY: Ownership Percentages in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf and One & Done presented by SERVPRO * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.
Lightning struck a large tree, leaving scorch marks on its bark, near the clubhouse at the U.S. Women’s Open on Friday.
