Power Rankings: RBC Heritage

FORT WORTH, Texas – Since Phil Mickelson’s last appearance at Colonial in 2010, he has: • Received induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame. • Won five tournaments, including the fifth major of his career. • Came close to shooting 59, his birdie bid on the final hole at TPC Scottsdale lipping out. • Played on three winning Presidents Cup teams and had an influential hand in Ryder Cup changes that led to a U.S. win last fall. • Changed swing coaches. • Dealt with health concerns, including arthritis and two sports hernia surgeries. However, on Wednesday as Mickelson reoriented himself with Colonial, he wasn’t exactly focused on the changes in his life but the changes on a course in which he’s won twice. “It still always kind of surprises me,â€� Mickelson said after his pro-am round. “Like, no bunker on 13 caught me off guard. Like, wow, I thought there was a bunker behind the green. “Or the bunker on 14 used to be on the right side of the hole. Now it’s on the left. I guess it’s been that way for seven years. I just haven’t really picked up on it.â€� Mickelson said there was “no real specific reasonâ€� for adding the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational back to his playing schedule this year. Considering he’s a two-time winner of this event but has gone four years since his last PGA TOUR win (the 2013 Open Championship), his return to a place with winning vibes needs little explanation. In 2010 when Mickelson last played here, he ranked sixth on the PGA TOUR in driving distance with a 300.4-yard average. This week, he comes in ranked 65th on TOUR with a 293.8-yard average. Of course, he remains one of the TOUR’s most creative players. A few years ago, Mickelson said Colonial’s course redesign in 2009 no longer gave him a power advantage, and thus he took it off his schedule. Does he think Colonial is a better fit for his game now? “Hard to say,â€� Mickelson responded. “I think if you’re playing well, you can play just about any golf course. “The thing about Colonial is that you can’t overpower Colonial. There are only two par 5s. There are no given birdie holes. “But you can be rewarded. You can birdie just about every hole if you hit a good shot, so there’s a lot of reward for well-struck shots here. I think that’s my favorite thing about this course is that very rarely is a well-struck shot penalized.â€� The first time Mickelson won at Colonial was in 2000. He shot a final-round 7-under 63, which ties for the lowest final-round by the eventual winner. A year later, he was victimized by Sergio Garcia’s final-round 63, losing by two strokes. In 2008, Mickelson won again, hitting a memorable wedge shot out of the trees on the 18th hole to set up his clinching birdie. As his ball rolled into the cup, a jubilant fan dove into Crampton’s Lake next to the green. The next year – the first year of the course redesign — Mickelson was unable to defend his title. His wife Amy had been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier that month and Phil immediately suspended his playing schedule. When he returned in 2010, he shot 71-73 and failed to make the cut. His memories of the course focus on his successful rounds here. “I still remember the course prior to it going under some renovation,â€� he said. On Wednesday, he began plotting out a game plan. With wind gusts to 30 mph this week, and potential rain on the weekend, he isn’t sure how aggressive he’ll be. “That’s kind of a momentary … answer, because I think it changes,â€� he said. “I think it changes with the wind, with the pin position each hole. I think it changes with how you feel, what you feel more comfortable with off the tee. “I think that you have to attack this golf course to win. I think the years that I won, I ended up shooting low scores at some point. I know I shot 63 the first time I won it. “You have to kind of get after this course and make birdies, but you also have to kind of pick and choose when to get aggressive.â€� After choosing to return to Colonial this week, he hopes to reignite some of his past glory. A lot has happened since his last visit, but like a reunion of old friends, Mickelson hopes this week’s experience will be fun and memorable.

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LA QUINTA, Calif. — Maverick McNealy and course management coach Scott Fawcett have a system in place where the recent Stanford University graduate grades his thought process and pre-routine over the course of a round using either a one or zero. If McNealy is consistent and focused, with no distractions before or after the shot, he gives himself a one. A zero is given when he misses the mark. The system sounds simple, but it’s a way to keep McNealy engaged over the course of a round. On Friday, McNealy logged his best score on the Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course at PGA West. “I gave myself one zero, and that was on 6th hole where I should’ve stepped off from a wedge [shot],” McNealy said. “I know these rounds are really important and I really want to play well, but I’m just really trying to make a one.” It shouldn’t come as a surprise that McNealy’s near-spotless course management score coincided with a second straight sub-70 round at the CareerBuilder Challenge. McNealy’s 68 has him within six shots of the lead at 10 under and, more importantly, another step closer to making his second TOUR cut since turning professional last October at the Safeway Open. With playing privileges locked up for the first 12 Web.com Tour events of the season — via a T-10 at the final stage of Web.com Tour Qualifying — McNealy has set his sights on making the most of his three remaining sponsor’s exemptions on the PGA TOUR at the CareerBuilder Challenge, Farmers Insurance Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. (He’ll also try to Monday qualify for the Waste Management Phoenix Open.) In a perfect world, McNealy would earn enough FedExCup points to bypass playing the Web.com Tour altogether. It’s something he admitted is in the back of his mind this week. But instead of dwelling on the what-ifs, McNealy is using it as motivation to stay committed to each shot. “I know it’s really important,” McNealy said of the next three tournaments, “but then again, knowing that gives that much more focus on each individual shot to make every single one of them count.” McNealy looked comfortable on the Nicklaus Tournament Course, opening with four birdies in his first seven holes while playing alongside 18-year-old phenom Charlie Reiter, who also earned a sponsor’s exemption into the tournament. The last nine holes produced a few mistakes, including a tee shot on the par-3 8th that found the water hazard, but McNealy kept the mistakes to a minimum, getting up-and-down from the drop area to save bogey. McNealy noted his comfort level with the course came from playing a college tournament on Nicklaus during his time at Stanford. He went on to win the event and used nine birdies during the final round to close with an 8-under 64 for medalist honors. “Really good comfort level out here,” said McNealy. “It’s playing pretty similar to how it did during the tournament in college. Honestly, I’d say we saw two-thirds of today’s pin positions during that tournament, so it was good prep.” McNealy attributed his strong play this week to a rigorous practice regiment he put in place during the offseason that saw him put on 5-6 pounds of lean muscle through a daily routine consisting of 36 holes and a trip to the gym. “I told [my caddie Travis McAlister] the next time I saw him, I was going to have better balance and rhythm with my swing, which came about from that strength,” McNealy said. “I told him I was going to work really hard and have a better short game and wedge play.” McNealy also worked on various aspects of his game — iron trajectory and pace putting — and said he was already seeing it pay dividends on the course. “It all started to click during the final stage of Q School and I’ve started to see everything pay off,” McNealy said. “I’m really happy it’s carried through this week.”

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