The Masters 2011

[javy knows my name]

mickelson is actually a very good putter, he's just missed some pretty short putts at bad times. the bigger problem is that he sprays his driver around at a frequency that should be alarming to galleries everywhere.

 

 

Putting statistics (Putts per GIR, Putts per round) can be very misleading. If you're into this kind of thing, check out this article:

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703791704575114071142473884.html

 

This stat actually confirms what many people have suspected for a long time. Ernie Els is a horrific putter, although traditional putting stats haven't always shown it. Mickelson actually ranked 149 in this stat last year. During the time of his dominance, Tiger Woods was by far and away the best putter around with this stat.

 

Anyone who's watched a lot of golf in the past 13 years has seen Tiger Woods drain 10-20 footers with major championships and big tournaments on the line, over and over again. And 5 footers? Forget about it. Gimmes. Conversely, you can go back and count multiple majors where Phil Mickelson has come up just short, and missed many 4 footers along the way. He would've won the Masters a few years back when he blistered the front nine, he 3 putted a critical time against David Toms in the last round of the PGA, he could've won the US open against Payne Stewart. Those are just the majors I can think of off the top of my head, and I know there are more.

 

Everyone remembers his drive on 18 at Winged Foot. But I honestly feel that his putter has probably let him down more than his driver in his career. Tiger has won a lot spraying his driver as well. Many of Phil Mickelson's ball striking woes (and he's a damn good iron player) are covered up by the fact that he has the best short game in the world. His short game dominance is almost on par with Tiger's putting dominance. I think it also has masked some of his poor putting in the past.

 

He has worked on his putting a lot. But Phil is just not a great putter, and he used to be a worse. Tiger Woods, on the other hand, has won 14 majors because he's the greatest putter that has ever played the game. Yes, he hits it a mile, and hits incredible shots. But his putting was inhuman. If he gets back there, then he will be dominant again.

 

Great post, and thanks for the link.

[DivineBovine]

Here's another article about Putts per Round, highlighting Tiger vs. Ernie.

 

 

http://www.slate.com/id/2263080/

[Banedon]

Very cool article. It makes me want to know how horrible mine would be...haha.

[Wilson A2000]

Why is it that a bunch of Tour players think Phil is a phony and that he attempts harder shots than necessary to get attention? B/B mentioned this, but I hadn't heard that before.

[Butterscup1679666578]

FIGJAM

[Sammy Sofa]

Why is it that a bunch of Tour players think Phil is a phony and that he attempts harder shots than necessary to get attention? B/B mentioned this, but I hadn't heard that before.

 

It could be true, but I'd take it with a grain of salt if B&B said it.

[Guest]

Why is it that a bunch of Tour players think Phil is a phony and that he attempts harder shots than necessary to get attention? B/B mentioned this, but I hadn't heard that before.

 

It could be true, but I'd take it with a grain of salt if B&B said it.

 

Why he would continue using a driver when he can't control where the golf ball is going is certainly perplexing. Especially since he can hit a 3W 300 yards. Okay, on those eagle holes, break out the driver so you still have a shot at eagle. But on the par 4's, just hit the 3W straight down the middle and stay out of the crap.

 

Scrambling to get up and down is certainly more entertaining to the viewer, but the odds are against you putting up good scores regularly.

[Sammy Sofa]

Why is it that a bunch of Tour players think Phil is a phony and that he attempts harder shots than necessary to get attention? B/B mentioned this, but I hadn't heard that before.

 

It could be true, but I'd take it with a grain of salt if B&B said it.

 

Why he would continue using a driver when he can't control where the golf ball is going is certainly perplexing. Especially since he can hit a 3W 300 yards. Okay, on those eagle holes, break out the driver so you still have a shot at eagle. But on the par 4's, just hit the 3W straight down the middle and stay out of the crap.

 

Scrambling to get up and down is certainly more entertaining to the viewer, but the odds are against you putting up good scores regularly.

 

Right, it just doesn't make much sense. B&B are usually full of [expletive] and are awful.

[Guest]

Phil is actually right handed, which might have a lot to do with his inability to control his driver. Granted, he's had decades to perfect his swing and potentially overcome the fact he's hitting from the wrong side of the golf ball.

 

It makes his life story resemble Jimi Hendrix learning to play a right handed guitar upside down and left handed, and it provides video history each time he pulls a crazy shot out of his butt after he got himself in a world of trouble. I guess if it works for him......

[DivineBovine]

I've read about the Phil Mickelson is a phony thing from tour players, but not recently. I read it a few years back, and ironically I think it was before he won any majors, or maybe he had only 1. I'm pretty certain it had nothing to do with his golf game.

 

And Ben Hogan was a natural lefty who played golf righty, and is thought by many to have been the greatest ball striker of all time.

[SpongeWorthy]

"Amy" was 9 months pregnant when Mickelson was battling Payne Stewart for the 99 US Open (that Stewart won) and Phil famously said he'd walk off the course as soon as he got paged that his wife into labor. Mickelson ended up losing on the 72nd hole and was in contention the whole way pretty much. Some other players said off the record that they wished his wife went into labor while he was on the course because they thought Mickelson was full of [expletive].

 

There was an SI article about it years ago.

 

Edit: And yeah, FIGJAM

[SpongeWorthy]

lol and after some googling I've learned that there was a rumor going around last year that Michael Jordan and Amy Mickelson were having sex and Phil walked in on them but that it was ok because Phil set it all up because the Mickelsons are apparently swingers

[Magnetic Curses]

Phil is actually right handed, which might have a lot to do with his inability to control his driver. Granted, he's had decades to perfect his swing and potentially overcome the fact he's hitting from the wrong side of the golf ball.

 

It makes his life story resemble Jimi Hendrix learning to play a right handed guitar upside down and left handed, and it provides video history each time he pulls a crazy shot out of his butt after he got himself in a world of trouble. I guess if it works for him......

 

jimi hendrix did not learn to play on a guitar simply flipped upside-down.

[Wilson A2000]

Tough week for Rory. Tanked at the Masters. Had to share a plane with Schwartzel. And the airline lost his clubs.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/blog/devil_ball_golf/post/McIlroy-8217-s-terrible-horrible-luck-continue?urn=golf-wp1026

[DivineBovine]

Phil is actually right handed, which might have a lot to do with his inability to control his driver. Granted, he's had decades to perfect his swing and potentially overcome the fact he's hitting from the wrong side of the golf ball.

 

It makes his life story resemble Jimi Hendrix learning to play a right handed guitar upside down and left handed, and it provides video history each time he pulls a crazy shot out of his butt after he got himself in a world of trouble. I guess if it works for him......

 

jimi hendrix did not learn to play on a guitar simply flipped upside-down.

 

 

Didn't he learn on an acoustic that his father got him?

 

Anyways, he kept playing on a righty stratocaster long after he could easily afford a lefty model. He liked the tone of the righty guitar flipped and liked the whammy bar on top. I love it when righty guitarists buy lefty strats and flip them like Hendrix. Posers. My strat is righty. But I still couldn't resist getting Olympic White ala Jimi Hendrix, though. Because Hendrix was the man. May he RIP.

[Guest]

Phil is actually right handed, which might have a lot to do with his inability to control his driver. Granted, he's had decades to perfect his swing and potentially overcome the fact he's hitting from the wrong side of the golf ball.

 

It makes his life story resemble Jimi Hendrix learning to play a right handed guitar upside down and left handed, and it provides video history each time he pulls a crazy shot out of his butt after he got himself in a world of trouble. I guess if it works for him......

 

jimi hendrix did not learn to play on a guitar simply flipped upside-down.

 

Sorry, I didn't realize you needed the entire life story or that I needed to provide his life story for you to grasp my point. If I must clarify for you, it was a right handed guitar strung up for a left handed player.

[Guest]

Since there's no golf thread, this will have to do.

 

I'm not sure what's more amazing, that Kevin Na needed 16 shots on a par-4 in the Texas Open or that he played the other 17 holes at four-under par.

[NCCubFan]

It was the worst par-4 hole anybody has played in PGA history.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=6355925

[Butterscup1679666578]

Now he knows how I feel.

[Banedon]

He handled it awesome though. He talked about it like it was any other hole...even laughed about it. I suppose that's probably a big reason why he's a pro golfer though. The ability to put a nightmare hole out of his head.

[TruffleShuffle]

He handled it awesome though. He talked about it like it was any other hole...even laughed about it. I suppose that's probably a big reason why he's a pro golfer though. The ability to put a nightmare hole out of his head.

 

Also the ability to have a nightmare hole once in his life instead of once like every 9 holes

[Banedon]

He handled it awesome though. He talked about it like it was any other hole...even laughed about it. I suppose that's probably a big reason why he's a pro golfer though. The ability to put a nightmare hole out of his head.

 

Also the ability to have a nightmare hole once in his life instead of once like every 9 holes

 

Heh, well that too. I wasn't limiting the definition of "nightmare hole" to 16's though. Surely he occasionally has a double bogey or two that he has to forget about and move on.

[bukie]

Here's a video of the debacle:

[Mark Priors Calves]

That guy's my new favorite golfer.

[Guest]

He handled it awesome though. He talked about it like it was any other hole...even laughed about it. I suppose that's probably a big reason why he's a pro golfer though. The ability to put a nightmare hole out of his head.

 

Plus you get to a point where it goes beyond bad and there's nothing to do but laugh. Like if he just hit a couple bad shots and ended up with a 9, he'd probably be ticked off.