Wednesday, October
30, 2002
Mickelson's attack
worked at East Lake
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - Jack
Nicklaus won most of his 18 major championships by waiting for
others to make mistakes.
Phil Mickelson doesn't
buy that strategy.
Not with Tiger Woods
around.
The world's second-best
player doesn't have any majors to prove that his aggressive style
is the only way to conquer Woods, but it certainly worked the
last time the Tour Championship was held at East Lake Golf Club.
Two years ago, Mickelson
trailed Woods and Vijay Singh by one stroke going into the final
round when he closed with a 4-under 66 to win, becoming the first
player in four years to win a tournament when Woods had at least
a share of the 54-hole lead.
"Playing in
the group in front of him gave me a bit of opportunity to get
off to a quicker start and to push them to make birdies,"
Mickelson said Tuesday. "I shot 4 under the front nine. That
forced them to make birdies to keep pace, and that allowed me
to come out on top."
Woods is 28-2 on
the PGA Tour when he's leading after three rounds. The only other
player to have beaten him is Ed Fiori in the 1996 Quad City Classic,
Woods' third tournament as a professional.
The only other players
to come from behind are Lee Westwood (2000 Deutsche Bank) and
Thomas Bjorn (2001 Dubai) on the European tour.
"To beat him
when he's in the lead is something very difficult to do,"
Mickelson said Tuesday after his pro-am round at East Lake. "He
doesn't make mistakes when he's in contention on Sunday."
Woods made plenty
two years ago in the Tour Championship.
He failed to match
Mickelson's birdie on the par-5 15th to fall behind, then took
a bogey on the 17th hole by hitting from the bunker to shin-high
grass left of the green.
"I was forced
to be aggressive on the last couple of holes and hit a bad tee
shot on 17," Woods said. "Yeah, I made a couple of mistakes,
missed a few putts. I didn't play the back nine that well. That's
probably what cost me."
They are the two
main characters in a cast of 30 gathered at soggy East Lake for
the season-ending Tour Championship, which starts Thursday.
Woods already has
clinched the money title and every other significant award for
the fourth consecutive year.
Mickelson wrapped
up No. 2 on the money list for the third straight year, although
he was surprised to hear he has won at least $4 million every
year since 2000.
That's not the issue.
Mickelson still hasn't won a major title, the standard of greatness
in golf. He says all year long that he won't back away from his
aggressive style, even in the major championships.
Jack who?
"Look at the
way we've always thought the greatest player in the game attacked
a major, which was Jack Nicklaus," Mickelson said. "He
always said he would wait and wait and let other people fall back,
and he would be right there to get the trophy at the end.
"That doesn't
happen with Tiger any more," he said. "He doesn't make
those mistakes. You have to go attack and make birdies and play
some exceptional golf to win championships in which he's in the
field."
It worked at the
Tour Championship two years ago.
It just hasn't happened
at a major.
Mickelson was loosely
in contention twice this year _ four strokes behind at the Masters
and five strokes behind at the U.S. Open going into the last round.
Woods won his second
straight green jacket when several contenders made critical mistakes
trying to catch him. At Bethpage, he closed with a 72 _ his first
of eight major titles that he won with a final round over par.
Woods said he's not
always at his best in the final round, despite a 30-4 record worldwide.
"It's a lot
more than you might think," he said. "I haven't played
particularly well on Sunday. But all you need to do is just keep
holding it together, keep making your pars, and hopefully someone
else will make a mistake. That's usually how it happens.
"Some days I'll
go out there and play great," he said. "There are a
lot more times when you don't really have it and you just need
to gut it out."
It didn't work at
East Lake two years ago in the Tour Championship.
He's done all right
in the majors.
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