Phil Mickelson won The Players Championship Sunday, firmly establishing himself as the No. 2 golfer of the world and putting to rest those silly media claims that last year's U.S. Open collapse is in his head.But most importantly, he made the game of golf more interesting by showing with absolute certainty that his rivalry with Tiger Woods is back on. That's what Cameron Morfit of Golf Magazine says:
Mickelson's final-round 69 and two-stroke victory in the Players, his 31st Tour W and fourth major, sort of, was all about Phil vs. Tiger. The rivalry has been simmering ever since last month, when Mickelson, realizing he hadn't played well since the 2006 Masters, started working publicly with Butch Harmon, Woods's old coach. The lefty's rock-solid round Sunday, in which he hit 10 of 14 fairways and 16 greens, didn't exactly bring the rivalry to a full boil. It'll take a mano-a-mano duel at Oakmont for that. But it did turn up the heat on Tiger vs. Phil.
I was hoping Rory Sabbatini could emerge as a rival to Tiger, but that didn't go well. Tiger will be the best golfer in the world for the next decade or so, but Mickelson is the natural fit to challenge him for that crown.




