When Being #2 Ain't Half Bad |
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The old Yankees had their Dodgers, the Celtics had the Lakers and more recently, the NFC had its Buffalo Bills! In golf, Nicklaus had his Watson, Watson had his Kite, and now Tiger has Phil. In a media world where #1 is all that seems to matter (take this year’s Presidential primaries and college football season—though every college seemed hell-bent on finishing second, not first) maybe it is time that #2 got its due. Phil Mickelson is not Tiger Woods, nothing earth-shattering there. Then again, nobody is, and maybe nobody ever will be. But his win last weekend at Riviera gave him a couple of things that even the great Woods doesn’t have, a victory at the grand old lady in the Palisades (in his 10th try as a pro, Tiger’s still 0-9 and has apparently given up trying) and something we can refer to as the California Slam. Think back at all the great golfers that have either grown up in the Golden State, or at least played an awful lot of golf there, including native sons Mickelson and Woods. How many of them have trophies from all four of California’s regular tour stops in the last 50 years- the Hope, Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach and Riviera? Not Jack or Arnie, not even the San Diegans, Stadler and Littler, or the Stanford-educated Watson or Woods. The California Slam club has only three members, each of them a child of California and all of them worthy #2s in their own right. Billy Casper, Johnny Miller, and now Phil. The first two are already Hall of Famers, Phil will be as soon as he turns 40. They’re still looking for a fourth, Mr. Woods? Hello? Besides being #2 (Casper to Palmer, Miller to Nicklaus), Billy and Johnny shared another trait. They marched to their own drummer. They didn’t seem to mind that they didn’t fit anyone else’s model of how #2 should act. They lived their lives on their terms, chased the golf ball when they wanted to, and seemed comfortable in whatever role anyone wanted them. Now Mickelson has become more like them than the avowed chaser of #1. Once he finally got the “major” monkey off his back, Phil’s played the best golf of his life. He used to seemingly be all caught up in trying to keep up, or at least compete, with Woods’ growing legend. He used to do things (like skipping the TOUR Championship a couple of years ago) seemingly because Tiger did it too and he wanted to prove he could be just like the Cat. But he now seems to be breaking away from that. In last year’s playoffs, Tiger walked, and then won (three times in fact). Phil won (beating Tiger at the Deutsche Bank) and then walked, skipping the BMW. He could have very easily skipped Riviera the last couple of years, where his record was even more dismal than Woods’ (not even a Top-10 in eight previous tries while Tiger had at least been in the hunt). But he wanted to win in L-A, wanted to conquer a classic old course, and just maybe wanted to do it because Tiger had not. He even added a Mickelsonian flair to it all, commuting in by jet every day so he could spend the evenings with his family in their San Diego-area home so he could sleep in his own bed. And just maybe he did it because he could. Now he has 33 career wins (13th all-time and only 6 wins from joining the Top 10, in an era where the fields are the deepest ever and Tiger seemingly wins anytime he wants to) and is still a threat for the career Grand Slam, something only accomplished by a handful of golfers, ever. It’s not his fault he came along at the same time as Woods. Take Woods unbelievable accomplishments away and Phil’s record stands on its own pretty darn well. Lately, he seems to have become more comfortable with that. Maybe its time we did too, and just appreciated how really good he is, as a person and a golfer. Its OK that Phil’s not Tiger, none of us is. He’s a doting father, gives generously to charity, always takes time to sign autographs, and plays an exciting, attacking game of golf that has, and will, entertain us for years to come. If that’s the life of #2, sign me up. |
