BUICK NOTEBOOK
LA JOLLA, Calif. – Phil Mickelson walked away from his latest disappointing loss to Tiger Woods feeling good about himself yesterday.
“I actually learned a couple things out there,” Mickelson said after shooting a nondescript even-par 72 to finish six shots behind Woods. “I learned that there are areas of my game that I’ve improved on and areas where I need improvement.
“I learned that I’ve improved from last year. I thought that heading into the day I was in for a tough battle, not just because Tiger is as good as he is, but because heading into this week I hadn’t been driving the ball well or putting well. I felt like I was fighting it all week.
“To go against the best player in the world and spot him two shots (his deficit at the beginning of the final round), I knew I was fighting an uphill battle. When he got off to a quick start, I wasn’t able to keep pace with his birdies on 5 and 6.”
Mickelson said he knew he was out of it when he bogeyed 11 and 12. By then his driver had been errant for a number of holes and he couldn’t sink any putts.
“After 11, I knew I didn’t have a chance to win. I had gone from four down to six down.”
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More often than not yesterday, Mickelson was living up to his controversial comments about Woods’ equipment, out-driving Woods often.
But Woods made it a point to praise his own driving as “the difference” for him in the win.
“He flew it by me a couple times, but I hit more fairways when I needed to,” Woods said. “My driving was a big reason why I won the tournament. I drove it well and drove it straight. I felt it was more important to keep the ball in play.”
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Brad Faxon revealed yesterday that, during a PGA Tour players’ meeting Tuesday of last week. Mickelson got up and apologized to all the players about his controversial comments about Woods’ equipment.
“Phil came into the meeting and made an apology to the players and talked to Tiger and said he messed up,” Faxon said. “I think Phil was being sincere. Tiger was gracious about it, too, the way he accepted the apology.”
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Though he was on nobody’s radar all week, Swede Carl Pettersson sneaked into second place, four shots behind Woods at 12-under after shooting 69 yesterday.
“I didn’t look at the scoreboard until I hit my third shot on 18 and I asked my caddie what place we were in. He told me second, so I knew the putt on the last was pretty big.
“I was just concentrating on my own game. I knew Tiger was going to play well, so I figured to shoot under par was my goal.”
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A potential rising star was born this week in Californian Arron Oberholser, who spent most of the week near the top of the leaderboard in the fourth PGA Tour start of his career.
Oberholser, a collegiate rival of Woods’, shot 1-under yesterday and tied for fourth at 10-under for the week. Yesterday was his first real taste of in-contention Sunday pressure on the Tour.
“This like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” he said. “It was really cool to play like this in my fourth PGA Tour start.”