Mickelson first, daylight second at BellSouth
IN: News | US PGA | BellSouth Classic (2006) | Wrap | by Bruce Young | 03 Apr 2006
It is a little difficult to do justice to the magnificence of Phil Mickelson's thirteen shot win in this week's BellSouth Classic. His last hole eagle from 25 feet put the final seal on one of the most emphatic victories in the game in the modern era. Only Tiger Woods' victory at Pebble Beach in 2000 has been a wider winning margin in the last thirty years but coming a week before Mickelson heads to yet another of his favourite venues is, to say the least, timely.
There has often been the suggestion that a win of this magnitude will be a hard act to follow but Mickelson has already backed up one win with another on two occasions in his career. If he can now keep the obvious expectations in check, there is no reason why he can't take this form with him on the two hour drive to Augusta.
From his opening round of 63 it appeared that the rest of the field would be playing for second and when he followed that up with a second round of 65, it was confirmed. He gave a little ray of hope with a bogey and double bogey late in his round on Saturday reducing the gap to just eight shots heading into day four but three birdies in his first five holes today had him in cruise mode for the remainder of the round.
Such was the quality of his play this week that even cruise control could not stop him from increasing his lead. He eagled the driveable 14th after a drive of 320 yards finished five feet from the hole and then at the last, after knocking his second to 25 feet, he eagled again to run out the winner by thirteen over Jose Maria Olazabal. Olazabal likely felt he had done a very good job this week until he looked at the leaderboard.
Mickelson introduced a new dimension to the professional game this week when he added a second driver to his bag and took out one of his wedges to make room numerically for such a change. The idea was an experiment for Augusta and based on the outcome, it is fair to assume that he will adopt the same policy next week. With one driver he hits a draw and with the other a cut. Such were Mickelson's driving statistics this week that he will head to Augusta knowing that key aspect of his game is well in hand. Mickelson's driving accuracy statistics for the year are 60% but this week it built to 80% including today where he missed just one fairway.
In the race for second, Jose Maria Olazabal, who like Mickelson appears very comfortable around the BellSouth golf course, was impressive as he valiantly chased the runaway leader. The Spaniard is also the beneficiary of improved driving of late and as he too heads to Augusta he can take a lot of confidence from a week where he appears to have added both length and accuracy to his arsenal. With such a good Augusta record he too will have plenty of fans in his quest to win his third Masters jacket.
A double bogey by him at the 9th today was answered with three late birdies and Olazabal eventually shared second with the 2004 BellSouth Champion, Zach Johnson, who birdied his last four holes to increase his take from the week significantly.
Others putting in very good Masters warm ups were Retief Goosen (4th) and Luke Donald (10th) who both had last rounds of 66. Donald bounced back from a last hole disaster on Saturday when he put two balls in the water and took nine. After finishing third at Augusta on debut in 2005, Donald heads to Augusta with a recent win behind him and good form here.
On the surface there was not a lot of joy from an Australasian perspective after the great start made by Gavin Coles on Thursday with his opening round 64. The best of the Australasians was Stephen Leaney who made just his second cut in eight starts this season and recorded his best finish when 24th.
Greg Chalmers was 51st, and Gavin Coles 57th but perhaps the most encouraging performance from the down under brigade was that by Phil Tataurangi, who was playing in just his second PGA Tour event in more than eighteen months. He eagled the last on Friday to make the cut by two and then after an horror opening nine of 45 in Saturday's third round, the New Zealander played his next 27 holes in 9 under. That was something quite special as he looks to regain his full USPGA Tour status.
Photo - Anthony Powter
