Love or Hate Him: Phil Inspires Me

[Cleveland Gunmetal]

Guy probably said "Hi" to him once in the hallway and now "knows him." Whatever, I never said he wasn't a good guy anyways. Just that all the smiling, thumbs up, high-fives, etc sometimes comes across as phony.

[CG031]

Guy probably said "Hi" to him once in the hallway and now "knows him." Whatever, I never said he

I understand where your coming from when you say a "phony.." At first, like 2 years ago, I thought Phil was a complete phony, but the more I see his actions on the course and during interviews I really think he truely has a great guy personality.

[mike_pinto]

Guy probably said "Hi" to him once in the hallway and now "knows him." Whatever, I never said he

We actually had quite the diverse team in HS. I played with Phil, Manny Zerman, and Scott Peterson (yes,

that Scott Peterson) . I know, he does come off as a little cheesey with all the grinning and smiling, even when he's not doing so well, but really, that is just how he is. Cheers.. Mike

[CG031]

We actually had quite the diverse team in HS. I played with Phil, Manny Zerman, and Scott Peterson (yes,

nice. did youp lay in college?

[$2 Nassau]

Phil has been growing on me lately. I like him.

Tiger is the one who is annoying me. Letting the club drop out of his hands immediately after a bad shot, then standing with his hands on his hips for 2 minutes staring at the ground in utter disbelief that he actually hit a poor shot.

The swearing and club throwing on camera is getting old as well. Also, the whole "intimidator" thing is a little much, guy is like a robot out there.

Still love watching him play but could do without the extracurriculars.

[RoyalBull]

THE IMAGE: Phil is basically a walking two-by-four. Fake, strained smile. Forced gestures. Stiff. They compare him to Arnie, which makes me punch walls. That's just the media trying to "create" what they need of him, fabricate "story." Phil's a golf nerd. He is perpetually uncomfortable everywhere......except in his mind.

THE GOLFER: And his mind is clear and aggressive. Results talk. He makes mistakes because he takes risks, or he's off, but he still goes for it...then he works to correct it all. He's got to be incredibly talented. He sets goals, then he actually succeeds beyond what we think are his abilities. He stretches. He's a gazillionaire, but he works hard and INVESTS his time and money, not just spends it.

VS TIGER. No contest yet. Tiger is number 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. After that is Phil... or maybe Vijay....or Jim, or Goosen, or the freak winner of the week. If you don't catch Tiger when he's down, no one has a chance.

BOTTOM LINE. I'm now wondering if Phil might just rise up and achieve what he wants. He's come a long way...sometimes sideways....and his goals are higher. He hasn't failed yet.

PREDICTION: One year, two years, three years away....there will be a tournament, the ultimate showdown, the best tourney ever played, when the other animals of the jungle rise up and attack Tiger.

[bflat450]

There was a lengthy article that involved an interview with Mickelson on Golf online earlier this year. It really made me think about the way Phil Mickelson plays and with the exception of the 72nd hole this week, he lived up to that this weekend. Face it, the guy has balls, you HAVE to give him credit for that. He's a risk taker, the modern day Tin Cup (which is funny because he was in the movie for a brief moment during the best ball tourney). He sees a gap in some trees when hes in a fairway bunker, and nails it right through. He doesn't see the trouble thats surrounding, he only sees the space in the middle of those trees, visualizing how he's going to hit it right though to save par or do better.

Amen.

~

[bflat450]

Although Phil will always be my favorite over any player.

[mike_pinto]

nice. did youp lay in college?

I was just on the team. One of the guys that had to work to qualify to start in matches. In San Diego, a decent High School golfer is -2.. I was about a 7 or 8 then. Amazing, 20 years later and not much better

[J.P.]

May have said this before, but what the hey. . .

I followed outside the ropes couple years back when Phil played the tourny here in Vegas. They used to play this tourny on 3 courses & move to TPC Summerlin on the weekend.

This day he played at Bears Best, a collection of Jacks favorite holes. I heard him comment on hole 7 when he was told the hole was from a scottsdale geronimo course "it doesn't look anything like that hole". So, I followed along, and heading to 9 spectators walk close to players and as we neared the tee, I asked him if this hole looked anything like the one it was meant to represent.

They could have hauled me away, caddy tell me to shut up or something, but Phil turned to me and simply began discussing the differences versus the real hole for this golf hole for a short bit.

I probably was out of line for asking him anything during tournament play, but he answered without hesitation nor irritation and was rather friendly about it.

There was no sense of contrived or forced friendly behavior.

[Enjoi]

May have said this before, but what the hey. . .

That right there gives me even more respect for the guy.