An enterprising forum member over on Golfwrx.com this morning managed to snap a few screenshots from the Golf Channel of Phil Mickelson practicing with a belly putter this morning. If you’ve been watching Phil putt recently, this probably isn’t a huge surprise.
He hasn’t exactly been putting well and Keegan Bradley’s win may have finally kicked the belly putter into widespread acceptance on Tour. But you can’t help but wonder what Bones is thinking as he’s standing on the putting green with Phil.
Phil Mickelson made an appearance on Charlie Rose earlier this week. Personally, I find Charlie Rose a bit dry for my taste, but Stephanie Wei presumably had some free time and transcribed the interesting bits:
“There’s nobody in the game who has benefited more from Tiger than myself,” said Phil when asked what his expectations were for Tiger. “He drove the purses up. He drove up the TV ratings. He increased the marketing expectations. He raised endorsement values.
“Nobody has been able to capitalize from that as much as I have so I will always be appreciative for what he has done for me, my family, the game of golf.”
“Tiger brought out my best game. He drove me to practice harder and work harder…Having that opponent driving and pushing you to get better is what helps people achieve higher levels of performance.
“I believe that today I’ve been playing better golf than I ever have. These coming four, five, six years will give me my best opportunities to win majors so I will contend in a lot of them. I want to contend and give myself opportunities on Sunday.”
You can check out the full interview here.
With Martin Kaymer missing the cut 78-72, the #1 world ranking is officially up for grabs this weekend at the Masters. Lee Westwood (#2), Phil Mickelson (#3), Luke Donald (#4), and Tiger (#7) could all take over the number 1 spot depending on how the other contenders finish. Graeme McDowell (#5) missed the cut and because of the math, Paul Casey (#6) can’t move to #1 even if he wins.
You’d have to be a statistician to figure out all of the possible scenarios, but thankfully the Golf Channel’s Randal Mell has laid out the possibilities for the rest of us:
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by Derek on April 6, 2011
in Masters
In the latest Masters odds from Bodog.com, Phil Mickelson remains the favorite at 6-1. Tiger is 8-1 (again, wtf?). Both Lee Westwood and Nick Watney are 14-1, with nobody else under 20-1.
The odds on my dark horse picks? Justin Rose is 30-1. Anthony Kim is 33-1. Ben Crane is 100-1. And Gary Woodland and Ryu Ishikawa are sitting at 150-1.
Interestingly Tom Watson is sitting at 400-1. That might be a good long shot bet. He came damn close to winning the British Open 2 years ago and was on the leaderboard going into Friday at the 2010 Masters after firing a first round 67. Yes, at 61, he’s probably too old to realistically contend at the Masters. But at 400-1 it might be worth a little fun money.
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Phil Mickelson’s win on Sunday at the Shell Houston Open moved him into 3rd place in the world golf rankings (from 6th) while Tiger, who didn’t play, slid from 5th to 7th. This is the first time that Mickelson has led Tiger in the world rankings in 14 years (since the 1997 Masters).
Many golf fans probably asked themselves today if Hell had finally frozen over. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic, but after Mickelson was unable to move ahead of Woods on 15 separate occasions last year, it seemed like it would never happened. However on Sunday, Mickelson finally pulled out a big win when he needed it and vaulted past Woods.
Mickelson is now just over a point behind world #1 Martin Kaymer. I’m not sure exactly how the math works out, but if Phil wins at Augusta this week, he would have to be very, very close to the #1 spot. Last week, I would have told you that it meant he had no chance of winning. This week, well, I’m not so sure anymore.
by Derek on April 4, 2011
in Masters
It’s official. People that bet on golf are idiots. Tiger Woods is currently 10-1 to win the Masters this week. He was the odds on favorite to win this week until Phil Mickelson won in Houston over the weekend. He dropped from 8-1 to 10-1 while Phil did the reverse.
Seriously, what the hell are people thinking? I’m not saying that Tiger should be 100-1, but 10-1? That’s nuts. Tiger hasn’t done anything recently that would warrant those odds. If he had finished well at the Bob Hope, I could see it. But a T24 performance doesn’t bode well for his chances at Augusta.
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If you had asked me last week about Phil’s chances at the Masters, I would have told you that it was crazy that he was one of the favorites at 10-1. After yesterday’s 63? Well, it doesn’t seem completely unreasonable anymore.
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Not only did Ben Crane give Rory McIlroy a serious beatdown today, he also played the fastest round of his life. Looks like his workout and pre-round rituals are legit.
OK, so I don’t actually know how long it took for Crane and McIlroy to play their match, but since Crane won 8 and 7, that means they only played 11 holes. So it couldn’t have possibly taken more than… I don’t know… 4 hours?
For Ben Crane, that’s like playing speed golf.
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Padraig Harrington, currently 26th in the world rankings, recently told the Irish Golf Desk that he believes he can become the #1 player in the world.
I think Tiger has opened it up to everybody else. In fact, I am closer to being world No 1 now than I was when I was world No 3.
Technically, that is true. He’s currently less than 6 points behind Lee Westwood compared to almost 11 points behind Tiger in 2008 when he was ranked 3rd. But does anybody besides Harrington think that he’s got a legitimate shot at becoming the world #1?
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Surprise Surprise, even without a win for the first time in his career, Tiger still tops the list of top earners in golf in 2010. It’s not all roses however. Even though he earned an estimated $74.2m this year, it was his lowest earnings total over the past decade, and represented a $48m drop from 2009. Between the divorce settlement, rumored payoffs and the lost income, Tiger was engaged in some very expensive extra-curricular activities.
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