Phil Mickelson began with a statement of the obvious about Tiger
Woods.
"The game of golf needs him to come back," he said, "Nobody
will be able to fill (his) shoes."
But then Mickelson added the unpalatable truth his sport's
having trouble digesting.
"Right now, he's got a lot more important things going on in
his life," the world No. 2 said of his longtime rival.
"Amy and I are good friends with both Tiger and Elin, and we
care deeply about how this turns out."
If Mickelson knows anything about — with due apologies
to Brangelina — the world's most discussed relationship, he
wasn't saying.
"We've had limited communication with the Woodses, and
again, I just feel like discussing any of that is just not
appropriate," he said. "I feel like it's a violation of our trust
and our friendship."
Assuming that "Tiger and Elin" can still be used in the same
sentence after the shocking revelations of Woods' marital
infidelities, it's safe to assume that he is now trying to put the
pieces of their marriage back together.
Whether he's in therapy for sexual addiction, as has been
widely reported, or not, that journey isn't likely to be either
fast or easy. Golf is far from his thoughts, according to those who
have spoken with him.
A close source to Woods says there is no timetable at all
for his return to the links, and characterized as unfounded
speculation the theory that Woods will appear at Arnold Palmer's
Bay Hill Invitational in late March as a warm-up for the Masters.
In the meantime, the stage belongs to Lefty.
Mickelson, like Woods, grew up in Southern California and
has a special place in his heart for Torrey Pines, venue for the
beleaguered San Diego Open which — at least for this year
— was rescued by a last-minute title sponsor, Farmers
Insurance.
In the past, the problem he's had is that Woods, who played
here as a boy with his late father, Earl, has also made his season
debut on these gorgeous seaside links.
Mickelson has three wins in 20 starts here but, like
everything, that doesn't begin to get him out of Tiger's lengthy
shadow. Woods has seven victories — including, most
unforgettably, the 2008 US Open — in 12 starts.
But there was enough evidence toward the end of last season
that perhaps the balance of power was shifting in golf.
Mickelson, on the back of a new putting technique and longer
and straighter driving, knocked off Woods at the Tour Championship
in Atlanta and then doubled his pleasure by beating Woods again in
China at the HSBC Champions.
His confidence is so high that it was obvious Wednesday a
large part of Mickelson wishes Woods were back just so he could
realize his impossible dream and finally reach the No. 1 ranking in
the world.
Since the world rankings were created in the mid-'80s, no
player has spent more time inside the top 10 than Mickelson without
having reached the top.
"My whole career I've been trying to get to No. 1. I just
haven't had much success," he admitted.
"But this year whether or not Tiger is in the field, I still
believe that this is an opportunity for me to compete in majors, to
challenge him.
"I've had some great head-to-head success in the last year
or two, and I expect this year with or without him to be one of the
best years of my career."
The evolution is made more remarkable given that Mickelson
will soon turn 40 — though in golf nowadays that seems to be
the new 30 — and that just a few months ago it seemed his
heart wasn't in the game.
In May his wife, Amy, was diagnosed with early-stage breast
cancer. Although if caught early more than 90 percent of women
survive the cancer, such statistics amount to cold comfort to
families facing the uncertainty that diagnosis brings. To compound
his misery, Mickelson's mother, Mary, was soon after also diagnosed
with breast cancer.
Mickelson said he felt so bad watching the two most beloved
women in his life discover that they had cancer that "most of the
time you wish it was you."
Although both his wife and mother are "doing great," they
will never be completely in the clear, he said.
"Even in the best-case scenario, dealing with cancer is
never easy. We were back in Houston Monday and Tuesday for some
treatments. My mom had surgery recently and things are going very
well, but again, it's never easy.
"We've got precautionary measures and medicines and so forth
that are to prevent it from coming back for five to 10 years that
are having pretty tough side effects. So that's been challenging
for both.
"But I think the biggest thing for us is that we kind of had
to mourn our old life and accept our new, and that's been tough."
Mickelson took the time in a 30-minute news conference to
pay tribute to his gregarious wife, a former college cheerleader
who's been a mainstay at tournaments for many years.
"I've always known how lucky I've been to have the wife I
have and how supportive and loving she's been and what a great mom
she is," he said.
"I didn't need something like this to happen for me to be
appreciative of that. I've always understood how lucky I've been to
have the life partner now for almost 20 years who's been so
special."
He said he now looks back on 2009 with "mixed emotions."
"I actually ended the year feeling very grateful about the
way the year turned out because in the middle of the year there was
a lot of uncertainties, and that was the hardest thing to deal
with, and golf wasn't really as important.
"Toward the end of the year as things started to turn around
and look up for our family situation, it felt like my game started
to come around, as well.
"I wouldn't look upon '09 as being a great year, obviously,
but I feel fortunate in how it could have turned out, both golf and
off the course."
Woods, unfortunately, can't say the same.
