Can Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson regain their dominant form? It’s a perennial question, but the 2011 version is more intriguing—and seemingly unanswerable—than ever: What can we expect from Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson?


Due to their separate fates spinning the golf


world off its axis, both are facing a comeback year. Even though Mickelson won his third Masters in 2010, and Woods by the end of the year seemed to be emerging from the depths of his very public ordeal, both saw their king- doms diminished. Whether individually, or in tandem, they didn’t rule. And many wonder if they ever will again. In a career context, Woods’ results in


particular were surreal. When a player who had won 71 times in the previous 13 seasons counts as his highlights fourth place fi nishes at the Masters and U.S. Open, with perhaps a birdie eruption in his Ryder Cup singles match thrown in, there’s something very wrong. So many Woods rounds were so unlike what


he’s gotten us used to. He skied drives and mis- hit irons, ranking a stunning 167th on the tour


in greens in regulation. He missed big putts. He didn’t close when in contention. And for the fi rst time in his professional career, he went an entire year without a win. The karmic reversal was complete at the


Chevron Challenge. Woods, clearly determined to signal that he had turned a corner, took a three-stroke lead into the fi nal round. But shaky short putting and a mid-round loss of feel with his full swing saw playing partner Graeme Mc- Dowell take the lead. Woods dug deep to regain his poise, and after knocking his approach stiff on the 72nd hole, looked sure to have salvaged one of the most personally meaningful victories of his career. But that’s when McDowell im- probably ran in a 20-footer to get in a playoff, and then an even longer putt to win in sudden death. Woods accepted the defeat with a re- signed half-smile, a logical end to a hellish year. In contrast, Mickelson began 2010 with the


worst—learning the previous June that both his wife, Amy, and mother, Mary, had breast cancer—seemingly behind him, and great run of golf in late 2009 promis- ing a particularly fruitful West Coast swing. But Mickelson is nothing if not unpredictable, and instead he had the worst opening two months of his career. With little expected of him at Augusta, Mickelson naturally won by three, hug- ging his family on the 18th green in the feel good moment of the year. After losing a chance for a truly


magical season by playing a poor fi nal nine at Pebble Beach to drop to t4 at the U.S. Open, Mickelson completed his jagged performance pattern by failing to contend the rest of the year. Overall, he only posted six top-10 fi nishes in his 20 offi cial events. In the summer and fall, he had several chances to assume the


WINTER 2011 / NCGA.ORG / 33


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