 Phil Mickelson Wins AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am By mustang6560 on 2/13/12
The penultimate pairing for Sunday’s round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am featured the two biggest names in golf - Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. And we learned two things from the best pairing in golf - 1) Phil can still play and 2) Tiger is no longer the closer he used to be.
After a five-under par 67 in round three, it seemed like Tiger was poised to finally end his winless drought on the PGA Tour. But, it was Phil who turned up the heat and closed with an eight-under par 64 to showup the man who used to own him on the links. went from a six-shot deficit to a two-shot lead in just six holes, closed with an 8-under 64 for a two-shot victory over Charlie Wi and gave Tiger Woods a thrashing at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on a Sunday not many saw coming.I wouldn’t go as far as to say Tiger choked in the final round because he was technically four strokes back. However, his three-over par 75 was a pitiful performance for the former world number one. What happened to the Tiger who instilled fear in the hearts and minds of his fellow competitors any time he was near the top of the leaderboard on Sunday? A few weeks ago at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, a relatively unknown European Tour player, Robert Rock, headed into the final round tied atop the leaderboard with Tiger and he left handled the pressure with ease. There is one more takeaway for Tiger - it’s only a matter of time before he wins again. Sure, he didn’t get it done in the Middle East or in California yesterday. However, the fact Tiger was in contention on Sunday should send a message to the entire PGA Tour - win while you still can because he is very close to finding his winning ways again. And you know what they say - when it rains it pours! read more photo by Bill Spruce [ comments ]
 meatball413 says:For a moment it seemed TIger would make a run when he chipped in from the bunker. But then Phil came right back with a monster putt. 2/13/12
 tartantoml says:Phil even gave credit to his caddy (bones) for encouraging him to go for some shots. Tiger still can't talk about anything but tiger (and his putter). 2/13/12
 homermania says:Great showing by Phil yesterday. The long par save after Tiger holed it from the bunker was absolutely clutch. 2/13/12
 mjaber says:Tiger will win again, but to say he's going to win in bunches, as he did in the past, I think is a bit much. The world has caught up. He doesn't seem to have the dominant, killer instinct he has, and until he finds that (if he finds it), he will be just another very good golfer. 2/13/12
 BAKE_DAWG40 says:Tiger's putter abandoned him on Sunday once again. He's close but not quite there yet. 2/13/12
 legitimatebeef says:The swing has looked off during the past couple of sunday rounds. I think maybe the final round pressure is affecting Mr Woods in a way that he is not yet unaccustomed to. Dude needs to quit thinking so hard and just trust it. Is my ignorant opinion. 2/13/12
 jrbizzle says:He's got some thing to tune up, but one thing that is worth note is his distance is coming back. He used to be long and straight, and won in bunches. He has also won being long and errant - because his iron game is so crisp. The last couple yeas he was not long, and crooked, that won't get anyone wins. On one hole yesterday he flew it into a bunker that they said was about 320 yards down from the tee. If he can keep his length, and fine tune the putting, he may start to win yet again. He's still the favorite at Augusta, no matter what. 2/13/12
 tennesseeboy says:Phil just seems to be very comfortable with his golf and his life. I have a feeling he's going to have a good year. 2/13/12
 Swingem says:Phil's got nothing to prove. He played great and handed TW his a** in a basket. At the end of the day Phil goes home to his wife and kids, his sh*t is all together and life is good. TW goes home to.....well, TW. There's a lot more missing for TW than a putter and a swing. Just sayin! 2/13/12
 chief_broom says:Tiger's problem isn't with his game. His performance the last two tournaments proves that it's working because he's putting himself in contention for the final round. I think what he's struggling with is that the rest of the field's reaction to him being in contention is what has changed, and this is being reflected in the last two final round performances. The "old" Tiger just had to show up in contention on Sunday and he could count on his mere presence on the leader board to cause many of the other guys in the hunt to falter. The mystique is gone. Guys like YE Yang, Graeme McDowell, and yes Phil have shown the world that Tiger can be stared down. Tiger will win again, and who knows he may well regain some of that old mystique (look what VJ did in his 40's!), but he'll never dominate the sport like he once did. Before his fall he was considered super human. That belief encompassed everything about him from his family and home life to his prowess on the links. Now he's just a man. 2/13/12
 gpickin says:One thing they mentioned, TIGER sucks chasing people down. A lot of the stats were nuts. 95% if he had an outright lead. 40% if he was tied on sundays and way way worse if he was only top 10. I guess tiger has to not be in contention, but being 5-6 strokes ahead on sunday, but we've seen how that works on Sundays lately. Phil played awesome, but he struggled before this weekend. And when the sun was out, he SUCKED, but rain comes in, he gets tight and plays tight, weird. Fun to watch Phil on Fire though. 2/13/12
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