Tour Scene/The Players:Phil Mickelson is not averse to smiling and, for sure, no one could begrudge him the wide one on Sunday evening last outside the faux Mediterranean clubhouse at the TPC at Sawgrass when the newest Players champion received the Waterford Crystal trophy from Stephen Ames. Yet, his smile masks a lot; professional golf is essentially a selfish sport, with hard decisions to be made and, as he has shown in swapping coaches, Mickelson is not afraid to make the hard call when it is needed.
In getting rid of Rick Smith and taking on Butch Harmon in his place as swing coach, Mickelson took an educated risk. It has paid off almost immediately. In the three tournaments that the Mickelson-Harmon team has worked together, Mickelson has finished third-third-first. It's a new consistency for a player once so unpredictable that Ford, one of his main sponsors, made a series of television commercials on the theme of, "What will Phil do next . . . ?"
On Sunday, Mickelson shot a final round 69 for 277, 11-under, which gave him a two-shot win over Spain's Sergio Garcia. Sean O'Hair, who had duelled for much of the day with Mickelson, became the latest victim of the infamous 17th hole when he put two balls in the water, racked up a quadruple bogey seven and eventually finished with a 76 for 283, his disaster on the short hole taking him from second place on his own down to 11th.
While Mickelson's first Players victory gave him a winner's cheque for $1.6 million and brought his career earnings - in his 31st win - to more than $43.6 million, the manner of it - hitting 10 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens in regulation in the final round - spoke volumes for the new consistency that Harmon has already brought to his new pupil's game. Indeed, on winning, the flag on the 18th (traditionally nabbed by the player's caddie) was, instead, given to Harmon. On it, Mickelson had scribbled a message. "To Butch," it read, "The first of many. Phil Mickelson."
Harmon, who had conducted a two-hour session with Mickelson on Saturday and spent another 90 minutes on the range with him prior to Sunday's final round, has previously coached Tiger Woods and Greg Norman and includes Adam Scott in his current group of players.
Of Mickelson, he said: "He's a great player and a great champion with a tremendous amount of talent.
"It's more just a matter of getting comfortable with it (the swing) and trusting it, and then going out there and doing it - which sounds easy to do, but when you've won 30 tournaments and three majors, it is not easy to change. You've got to realise you're working with one of the most talented players to ever play the game, but he had to buy into it."
What Harmon has done to Mickelson is to make his swing shorter, but with a wider arc. It's more stable on the backswing, with a slightly more bent left knee that doesn't allow his hip to turn as far which prevents the club from getting loose at the top. His swing path is designed to help him eliminate the right side of the golf course, and consequently not get into so much trouble. Of the win, and looking ahead to next month's US Open at Oakmont, Mickelson remarked: "It tells me that I'm on the right path and the things that I'm doing are correct. I'm excited about the way my ball-striking seemed to get better as the week went on. I believe that if I keep working at these things and progressing, I should be ready to take on the ultimate tough challenge at Oakmont. The things that I'm working on are correct, because I have seen progression. It wasn't a hit or miss. It's steadily gotten better the more time I've put into it."
Mickelson added: "I feel like we're just getting started. This is only week number three (working with Harmon). I feel like in three months, how much am I going to progress? In three years where am I going to be? I've seen an immediate difference in three weeks, and I can't wait for another three weeks to go by and start getting ready for the US Open. And for another three or four weeks to go by and get ready for the British. I'm really excited about the direction I'm headed."
As he has done in preparation for the majors with Smith and his shortgame coach, Dave Pelz, for the past couple of seasons, Mickelson intends to visit Oakmont ahead of the US Open to, as he put it, "map out a game plan . . . in the meantime, I plan on spending more time with Butch to make sure I continue to progress in the changes and the direction we want. I need to progress and get sharper. I struck it today (Sunday) the way I need to, but I didn't do it all four days and that's what I need to do."
Mickelson's run-up to Oakmont will include playing in the Memorial tournament in two weeks' time, but he has yet to decide whether or not he will play the St Jude tournament in Memphis on the week before the US Open. The win returned Mickelson to world's number two in the official rankings, but he still trails Tiger Woods by a considerable distance.
THE PLAYERS (at Sawgrass, US unless stated): 277 - P Mickelson 67 72 69 69. 279 S Garcia (Spa) 73 73 67 66. 280 - JM Olazabal (Spa) 78 66 69 67, S Cink 74 69 71 66. 281 - J Coceres (Arg) 73 70 68 70. 282 - R Karlsson (Swe) 77 68 71 66, A Scott (Aus) 74 71 70 67, J Quinney 71 74 64 73, JP Hayes 71 73 68 70, P Lonard (Aus) 69 72 68 73. 283 - S O'Hair 72 69 66 76. 284 - M Goggin (Aus) 72 71 71 70, C DiMarco 68 74 69 73, B Snedeker 72 74 68 70, S Elkington (Aus) 73 71 70 70. 285 - N Green (Aus) 71 69 74 71, JB Holmes 76 72 69 68, Z Johnson 73 73 70 69, T Purdy 74 73 67 71, L Donald (Eng) 74 72 65 74, J Byrd 74 71 71 69, S Appleby (Aus) 74 71 71 69. 286 - K Triplett 75 68 73 70, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 74 70 71, T Lehman 70 73 73 70, H Stenson (Swe) 72 76 66 72, J Gore 70 74 72 70. 287 - J Kelly 73 73 69 72, R Goosen (Rsa) 71 74 71 71, S Lowery 78 66 71 72, C Kresge 72 72 69 74, T Pernice Jnr. 74 68 72 73, J Durant 76 71 69 71, J Furyk 71 72 74 70, I Poulter (Eng) 75 71 72 69, C Pettersson (Swe) 70 71 70 76. Also: 290 - P Harrington (Ire) 76 70 74 70.
