Fairway Files, by Will Weiss

Phil Mickelson and Nick Watney reside on opposite ends of the PGA TOUR spectrum. Mickelson is an accomplished veteran with three major titles on his resume, while Watney is an up-and-comer with two career victories to his credit. They do have some similarities, though. Both are Californians (Mickelson grew up in San Diego, Watney in Sacramento), both have won at Torrey Pines (Mickelson in 1993, 2000, and ’01; Watney earlier this year), and both are students of Butch Harmon.

The other similarity is that both are capable of playing great golf. Mickelson and Watney separated themselves from the field at Doral with stellar play on Saturday, setting up a Sunday duel that many watching hoped would rival the Mickelson-Woods performance at Doral of 2005. On that day, Mickelson lipped out a chip shot on 18 that would have forced a playoff. The miss gave Woods the first of three consecutive wins at the famed “Blue Monster.”

Watney doesn’t supply the star power of Woods, but he did provide excitement with some stellar shotmaking. Watney pitched in on 9 for a miraculous birdie and followed that with a blistering 3-iron to set up an eagle on the par-5 10th, which momentarily gave him the solo lead. Mickelson birdied the hole to draw even, giving all the hints of a “whoever makes the last birdie wins” scenario. That proved to be correct, but with one catch: Mickelson’s birdie on 10 proved to be the last birdie of the day for the final group. Mickelson made one less bogey coming in to hold off the 27-year-old and claim his first WGC title.

Mickelson entered the week with bold talk, saying he’d never been better from 50 yards and in. He backed it up with four-chip-ins in the first two days. He also ranked third in the field in total putting (he was second in putts per round and fourth in putts per greens in regulation).

With the victory, Mickelson became the second multiple winner on TOUR this year, and he leapfrogged Sergio Garcia for the No. 2 spot in the world rankings. The critics who as recently as a month ago were wondering if Mickelson would ever get his game together to challenge Tiger Woods have been silenced. If Lefty continues to take the subscribe to the John Daly “grip it and rip it” approach, and win, he may, as Johnny Miller suggested, challenge Woods for the top ranking by year’s end.

SWEATIN’ TO THE BIRDIES

Mickelson left the golf course following Saturday’s round of 69 and spent two hours in an urgent care facility receiving an IV solution to treat dehydration and fever. According to numerous reports, Mickelson’s caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay said at the time he thought Mickelson “was 50-50 to play on Sunday.” Mickelson told NBC’s Roger Maltbie that he believed the illness to be a mild bout of food poisoning.

Nowhere did you hear fellow players question the validity of Mickelson’s statement in the way players like Retief Goosen and Woody Austin publicly questioned the severity of Tiger Woods’ knee injury at the U.S. Open last year.

DEAD HORSE ALERT

The weekend was a showcase for Watney. Despite making more bogeys in his final round (3) than he did in his previous 54 holes (1), Watney proved he can overcome nerves to hang with the big boys.

Watney ranked near the bottom on TOUR a year ago in short-game and putting statistics. He has risen in both categories this year, although the weaknesses in his bunker play were exposed on Sunday. It seemed that every time Watney made a putt, it the NBC crew saw it as an opportunity to genuflect at the altar of Butch Harmon and praise the “continuous work they’ve done” to improve that part of Watney’s game.

Wasn’t it enough to have Harmon in the booth on Saturday to confirm the information?

HERE’S JOHNNY…

I’ll admit it: I like Johnny Miller as a golf analyst, warts and all. But during Saturday’s telecast, Miller suffered from a serious case of talking before thinking.

His first offense: When Jeev Milka Singh’s tee shot on the par-4 4th hole sliced right, landed short and rolled into the water, Miller lauded the course setup, noting how the tournament committee decided to cut the grass very close to have the water come into play. Miller said he’d “been calling for that for years.” In the next group, when Mickelson ripped a 6-iron that rolled through and into the water, Miller called it “unfair” that a good shot produced such a poor result. Which one is it? Poor shot + poor result = praise for the course setup, or good shot + poor result = unfair? Or was it that Singh is an unknown to U.S. golf fans and Mickelson is a household name and Miller was catering to the celebrity factor?

His second offense: On the par-5 8th hole Saturday, Miller launched into a Mickelson lovefest, saying that if Lefty continues to drive as well as he is, he didn’t believe anyone would beat him. Roger Maltbie, the on-course reporter following the group, was dumbfounded. “I know a guy who could,” he said. Miller then tried to dance around the comment, but never made clear if he meant for this tournament, or if he truly believed that Mickelson would overtake Woods as the World No. 1 at some point.

THE TIGER FACTOR

There are no cuts in WGC stroke play events, so NBC didn’t have to lament the absence of Tiger Woods as they did two weeks ago. However, Captain Comeback did not threaten the lead, which certainly affected ratings. Woods finished with consecutive 68s on the weekend to close at 11-under, eight shots back of the winning tally.

Tee to green, he was actually more consistent than Mickelson. If he was anywhere near the top 50 in putting in the field, he’d have won. Woods finished 74th of 79 players in the field in putts per greens in regulation. His likely upcoming schedule (with no proof): Off; play at Bay Hill; off; play The Masters.

THIS WEEK

The Transitions Championship. Named for the Transitions lenses (a new sponsor for this event), “transitions” might be better served to describe the field, which goes from elite to B-list.