{"id":618,"date":"2005-04-12T11:36:43","date_gmt":"2005-04-12T16:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/uncategorized\/americas_lovehate_relationship_with_phil_mickelson\/"},"modified":"2005-04-12T11:36:43","modified_gmt":"2005-04-12T16:36:43","slug":"americas_lovehate_relationship_with_phil_mickelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/swing_thoughts\/americas_lovehate_relationship_with_phil_mickelson","title":{"rendered":"America’s Love\/Hate Relationship with Phil Mickelson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mickelson.jpg\"Golf fans are a fickle bunch. They cheer their favorite players on to victory or demoralize them when not playing up to par. So goes the story of Phil Mickelson, whose fan base has stuck by him during the highs and lows, from the time Phil was called “the only top PGA Golf Pro never<\/em> to have won a major” up to his win at the 2004 Masters Tournament. However, the love\/hate relationship between golf fans and Phil borders on strange, to say the least. Out of the hundreds of well-known PGA Professionals on tour, why do many golf fans constantly pick on Phil?
\n
\nI have asked this question to several golf fans as well as searched the internet to understand the public’s hot and cold reactions to Mickelson.<\/p>\n

Let’s start off with what viewers don’t<\/strong> like about Phil:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. His smile comes off phony at times. Although he appears genuine when he’s playing well, when Mickelson makes a bad shot and has a “smile” on his face, you know it’s phony and really a “smirk”. This “defense mechanism” is obviously one of the biggest reasons some people have used him as a veritable punching bag.<\/li>\n
  2. He lets down his fans by choking. With so much talent, Phil finds ways to lose almost every time when playing alongside of the upper echelon. One fan commented that although he wins lots of tournaments alot of them are “inconsequential” ones.<\/li>\n
  3. As part of the above comment, but important in it’s own right: Phil plays great on Thursday and Friday, but by the weekend he falls apart. He makes dumb mistakes, like making four putt “chokes” in the finals of the Masters Tournament<\/a>, dropping from 3rd place in the final round to a disappointing 10th by the end of the round. He’s in contention one moment, then misses an easy putt. Once Phil loses interest, he can’t get back into game and let’s down his fans as well as himself.\n

    ESPN<\/a> asked its readers to suggest the top ten choke artists of all time…the fans chose Mickelson as their number three pick. One email selected from the 3,200 sent in to ESPN stated, “Not only is he the biggest choke artist, he’s also the stupidest player in the history of the PGA Tour. At least when Greg Norman goes down in flames, he does it trying to do the right thing. Mickelson chokes because he spends his entire time on the golf course trying to show the world that you can win by hitting a 320-yard drive and an 80-yard pitch shot on a 400-yard par-4 dogleg right. I’ve gotten to the point now that I watch him play hoping to see another train wreck.”<\/li>\n

  4. Mickelson’s switch from Titleist to Callaway hurt him. Bloggers from across the country wrote scathing articles about how greed made Phil ink a much more lucrative contract with Callaway, forcing Acushnet (parent company for Titleist)out of the picture. Of course, calling Colin Montgomery’s Callaway Irons “shovels” during a round didn’t help his popularity either.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    On the lighter side, let’s take a look at why some golf fans (including myself) adore him.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. He’s a family man with an loving wife, Amy, and several beautiful children who chase after him, often stealing his thunder, after winning a tournament. This is very endearing to watch and the culture of America thrives on good old family values. This is one big scoring point for Phil.<\/li>\n
    2. He is “Everyman’s” underdog. Phil is the guy everybody wants to see win on Sunday. He appears likeable, and in our sports society, fans love the underdog and want to see the underdog prevail. Being in Tiger Woods’ footsteps also helped create this underdog “stigma”. Although he played at the top of his game for many years, Phil was always overshadowed by Tiger and people felt upset that he could never beat the number one player in the world.<\/li>\n
    3. Fans appreciated his conservative play to win the 2004 Masters tournament. By fulfilling his destiny and finally capturing a major, Phil showed the fans that he is capable of playing safe AND winning. Rallying to victory with smart play gave Mickelson an additional fan base.<\/li>\n
    4. Mickelson donates his time and dollars to charities. Donations of $100 per birdie and $500 per eagle during the 2005 season to Homes for Our Troops<\/a>, creates wheelchair accessible living spaces for disabled troops. President George Bush recently commended Mickelson, “I commend you and Homes for our Troops for your commitment to improving the quality of life for our disabled veterans who have sacrificed in the fight against the enemies of freedom in Afghanistan and Iraq… your efforts reflect the compassionate spirit of America.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Always feeling that his contributions are never enough, Phil and wife Amy have now teamed up with the ExxonMobil Foundation to give selected elementary school teachers advanced training in science and mathematics.<\/p>\n

      From the bloggers who continually berate Phil’s performances to the cheering fans who take stock of his accomplishes, everyone seems to have an opinion about the world’s number four player in the world. Whether or not your ideas are justified, it’s remarkable to watch Phil make a name for himself and to get so much coverage just for being Phil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      When Phil Mickelson is in the spotlight, rest assured that there will be plenty of clamor from the galleries. Whether that talk is good or bad, make no mistake: Phil is going to be a force on the PGA Tour for a long time, so get used to it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-swing_thoughts"],"yoast_head":"\nAmerica's Love\/Hate Relationship with Phil Mickelson (Swing Thoughts) - The Sand Trap .com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesandtrap.com\/b\/swing_thoughts\/americas_lovehate_relationship_with_phil_mickelson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"America's Love\/Hate Relationship with Phil Mickelson (Swing Thoughts) - The Sand Trap .com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"When Phil Mickelson is in the spotlight, rest assured that there will be plenty of clamor from the galleries. 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