NORTON, Mass. — Talk about a jolt of energy. The two biggest names in golf electrified the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday with a tremendous display of golf.
The back-and-forth duel between Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at TPC Boston in the second of four Playoff events was eerily similar to their classic battle down the stretch at the 2005 Ford Championship at Doral — only this time Lefty got the better of Tiger.
On Thursday night, he went to Fenway Park and witnessed Boston Red Sox rookie pitcher Clay Buchholz toss a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles in just his second big-league start. Then, Lefty followed that up with a win at TPC Boston in his first appearance at the event.
“I had a lot of fun, not just today, this whole week,” he said. “I had a lot of fun on the golf course being able to play three rounds with Tiger, a couple with Vijay. I had a great time off the course, too. We went and saw the no hitter in Fenway Park. How often does that happen? It was a very historic night and fun week here in Boston that I’ll never forget, and had a chance to spend a couple days up in Kennebunkport, Maine, the few days prior to this tournament. It made for a very special, memorable week, and I just am so excited with the way it finished.”
Before a boisterous, sellout crowd and under beautiful, blue skies Sunday, the Mickelson-Woods pairing did not disappoint. Mickelson entered the final round trailing 54-hole leader Brett Wetterich by two shots at 11 under, while Woods started the day three back. In the end, Woods, who was the defending champion, tied for second with Wetterich and Arron Oberholser, two shots behind Mickelson.
Mickelson grabbed a share of the lead at 14 under by the seventh hole and went out in 4-under-par 32. A 1-under 34 on the back capped off by a spectacular up-and-down for birdie on the 72nd hole put the finishing touches on a 5-under-par 66 for 16-under-par, 268 total, and his first win since THE PLAYERS Championship in May.
For Mickelson, Monday marked just the sixth time he has outscored Woods in the 19 times they’ve gone head-to-head on the PGA TOUR. To be able to win while going head-to-head with Woods, Mickelson said, made the victory all the more special.
“I think that he was making a charge there in the end, and to be able to stand up on 16 after he knocked it close and follow it with a birdie of my own, knock it inside of him to finish with a couple birdies coming in to win, it feels terrific,” Mickelson said. “Now the next step is to try to hopefully go head to head in a major. We don’t get paired very often in majors, and hopefully, next year in ‘08, we’ll have a chance to do that.”
One of the great features of the FedExCup is that it pairs players for the first two rounds of each of the four Playoff tournaments based on their standing. Because of that, Woods, Mickelson and Vijay Singh — Nos. 4, 5 and 6, respectively heading into the Deutsche Bank Championship — played the first 36 holes together.
“My favorite thing about the FedExCup is the way the pairings go straight down the points list,” Mickelson said. “I think that’s my favorite aspect of it. It leads to some excitement.”
Mickelson says he enjoys playing with Tiger Woods. (WireImage)With Mickelson taking over the No. 1 spot thanks to his second win of the season, Stricker slipped to No. 2 and Woods jumped to No. 3. That would be the potential threesome for the first two rounds of the BMW Championship. However, Mickelson admitted that he hadn’t decided whether or not he was going to play just yet, citing frustration over the way so many big events are sandwiched at the end of the season, as well as family obligations.
“I want to have a balance in my life, and I certainly feel the obligation to play and support the FedExCup and to support the PGA TOUR, support the game of golf,” Mickelson said. “And I also want to have balance in my family life, and my family has sacrificed a lot this year because it’s been a very difficult schedule. It’s not the four FedExCup tournaments; it’s the PGA, Akron right before that, only four days off after the British Open before we had to travel and playing two weeks before that, so it’s been the last three months having no more than two days off at a time and working to do corporate outings in between.
“So our time together has struggled, and I want to have a balance there. They start school next week, so I have that conflict or obligation and desire to be there.”
Mickelson did say that he would be in Chicago on Tuesday for a prior engagement, and if he were to skip the BMW Championship, he said he would still play in the Playoffs-ending TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta in two weeks.
New Englanders are very passionate about their sports — especially their Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots — which made the Mickelson-Woods pairing fitting and appreciated. That didn’t go unnoticed as both Mickelson and Woods were impressed with the enthusiasm of the crowds throughout the week.
“Boston is an awesome sporting town,” Mickelson said. “The electricity at the Red Sox game where you have a rookie that nobody knows, and he comes out and pitches a no hitter, and you wouldn’t believe the way people were supporting him. The same thing held true at the golf course. There were some fun, funny comments. It was an electrifying crowd. There were so many people that came out to support this event. We just as players certainly appreciate that.”
“All year, we’ve been talking about how it’s been kind of dead this year with the excitement level,” Woods said. “D.C. was pretty rowdy, here it’s been pretty rowdy, so it’s nice to see some atmosphere out there. You know, we were playing well today in the same group, the guys behind us were playing well, so a lot of good scores all around.”
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