Around the wider world of golf: It was a weekend for droughts to be ended, so let's go from shortest to longest. George Coetzee ended a two-year drought at the Tshwane Open on the ET; Michelle Wie ended an almost four-year drought at the HSBC Women's World Championship on the LPGA; Steve Stricker ended a six-year drought at the Cologuard Classic on the Champions Tour; and Meghan MacLaren got her first pro win at the Women’s New South Wales Open on the LET while Daniel Nisbet got his first pro win at the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open on the Asian Tour -- which I guess, since she's 23 and he's 27, could be considered the longest droughts of the bunch.
And Phil, of course, ended a nearly five-year drought with his WGC-Mexico win. Now THAT'S how you end a long drought! (Okay, maybe a major would have been better. Still...)
I won't try to summarize the final round since we'll likely be seeing replays of it (and Michelle's win, which was an equally big event on the LPGA but a shorter drought) for the next week or so. And I'm okay with that. There are wins which set the tone for a season, and this is the season for the youngsters to face the comebacks of the players they idolized, who shaped their games...
And who now want them to know what it feels like to be beaten by them! Isn't that what made them idols in the first place?
Part of what makes this "Year of the Comeback" so intriguing to me is the timing -- it's happening right before major season, which adds yet another layer to the increasingly tight competition on all the tours. Because we're now seeing the figureheads of the last couple of decades flex their muscles a bit and make the youngsters sit up and take notice.
Trust me, Justin Thomas won't soon forget that Phil "the Thrill" Mickelson just ran him down despite a 62-64 weekend and then beat him in a playoff. And they all know that Tiger was watching, and they all know how these two have spurred each other on in the past...
Oh yes, this is shaping up to be a great season!
So I'll simply post Phil's long-overdue Limerick Summary and note that Phil has given us thrills for so long, it's about time he had a few of his own. Walter Hagen, watch out -- Phil is after your spot on the all-time winners' list!
The long years since Muirfield left PhilThe photo came from this page at skysports.com.
With seconds aplenty, but still
He was hungry to win,
Hold a trophy again.
It’s about time that Phil got a thrill!
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