Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods

As Tiger Woods marched towards his 14 majors this year, there was one person on the course for whom I feel pity. It was none other but Phil Mickelson who made Tiger sweat all the way till the final hole.

There was a stage in the tournament when Mickelson was tied at front nine low of 6-under 30 at Augusta and the Masters looked to be in his kitty. All channels flashing golf news were waiting eagerly to crown Mickelson. And why not? After all Phil needed to shoot a 2-under on the back nine to get through to the playoffs and a 3-under back to win the Augusta Masters crown. But after a double bogey on the par 3 12th Mickelson could only muster 1-over for the back nine. After that his downward trend continued with him missing plenty of chances, with 4 footers and an eagle on 15 and birdie on 17.

What would be the gains if Mickelson had won Augusta Masters tournament?

* He would have got the No. 1 ranking by overtaking Tiger Woods
* He would have won his 3rd Masters and 4th Major golf tournaments
* Staging a comeback from 7-shots down Mickelson would have played the best Sunday ever (shooting a 9-under 63) that would be even better than Jack Nicklaus’s historic final round score of 65 in 1986.

So close yet so far, only a 3-under on the back nine! Phil Mickelson would have entered the history books of professional golf being the best golfer after the Tiger Woods era. Just a little magic with the iron and Mickelson wouldn’t have broken thousands of hearts!

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Tiger Woods holding the Accenture Match Play Championship trophy

Tiger, tiger burning bright!
Its the time for celebration for all the Tiger fans! Yes, Tiger Woods is back in action with a bang. Woods overcame a front-nine wobble to win his first match at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Incidentally this was his first professional outing since last June when he won the US Open. Right after this victory Tiger Woods had to undergo a reconstructive knee surgery.

Thank God! The long hibernation did not leave any mark on his game. Woods had a whopping 3&2 victory over the young Australian golfer Brendan Jones and marched to the second round of Accenture Match Play Championship. Organized at the picturesque Ritz-Carlton Club Tiger Woods managed to live up to the expectations of the crowd and smashed a 460-yard par-four in the opening hole. Woods went on to bogey the four-par at the seventh and hit a birdie in the eighth hole. Tiger Woods went ahead of his opponent in 12th and 13th holes and soon took the control of the game in his favor by winning the 16th hole.

Though the spectators were quite happy with the victory but Tiger Woods himself admitted that he “had some loose irons in the middle part of the round”. According to him the saving grace to his play was the strong start that the world champion had. It was great news for the Tiger fans as the star himself admitted about his knee that “it felt good”.