Seriously, what is Phil Mickelson like? If not for a fairly soft bounce on the left side of the 18th green at the Players Championship yesterday, his approach to the last hole might have dropped into the lake bordering the left side. The golf world would be talking this morning about how he came to the hole seemingly having eliminated the demons that still lingered following his bizarre, not to say, foolish string of shots at the 72nd hole of last year’s U.S. Open, and not only did he let them fester a little while longer, but he piled on some more.

It truly is impossible to work him out. A man of such immense talent, Mickelson was cruising to his first victory in 14 attempts at the Players at TPC Sawgrass after hitting 16 of 17 greens in regulation and holding a three-shot lead. After a sensible 3-wood off the tee, he faced 212 yards to the green with plenty of safe, green turf to the right of the hole. A simple 5-iron and a bail out to the safe side would likely have secured a par with his immaculate short game, or a bogey at worst. But, of course, that’s not Mickelson’s style. Instead of the easy 5-iron, he went flat out with a 6-iron, came off it a little and came within a couple of inches of getting wet. Why Phil, why?

We will never know the damage Lefty might have inflicted on his psyche had he lost this one too. Even if he had gone in the water, it’s possible, well probable, that he would have gotten out with a double-bogey six and won by one shot instead of two, but if he is to threaten Tiger Woods’s dominance of the tournaments that really matter, he is going to have to work out how to finish in less dramatic fashion.

Tiger wouldn’t have even entertained the idea of going left. As he demonstrated at the WGC CA Championship at Doral, he really couldn’t care less about the style in which he finishes just as long as he collects another tour title. A 3-iron, 8-iron, wedge to the 72nd green on the Blue Monster might not have had viewers on the edge of their seats but it got the job done with a minimum of fuss. One wonders how many titles Mickelson might have won if his course management was anywhere near as sound as Woods’s.

But let’s not forget what a superb performance this was from the world’s no. 2, and all the more astonishing considering he is just weeks into a partnership with a new teacher. In his last three appearances, Mickelson has two third places and a first in three of the Tour’s biggest tournaments. Since the EDS Byron Nelson in Texas, he is a cumulative 30 under par with a stroke average of 68.83.

But it’s difficult to know exactly what effect Butch Harmon has had on Mickelson’s long game thus far because at the start of last week, at least, the Californian was spraying it around the Players Stadium Course with the same abandon that had prompted the move from Rick Smith to Harmon in the first place. He found just five of 14 fairways on Thursday, but still shot 67, suggesting that his short game was once again responsible for rescuing him from a round that might have put him in danger of missing the cut. On Friday, he hit just one more fairway and only 33.33% of greens in regulation. But with 13 single putts he salvaged a level par 72. In the last three weeks, Mickelson has found 83 of 168 fairways — 49.4%, a few percentage points less than his overall season statistic. Given that Mickelson chose Harmon with a view to improving his driving — putting less curve on the ball to enable him to hit the fairway more often, one is curious as to how the results have been so good despite what appears to be a slight deterioration in his performance off the tee.

Clearly Mickelson’s misses aren’t nearly as bad as they have been. On Thursday, despite finding the short grass so infrequently, his approach shot was usually played from just a few inches off the fairway in the first cut of rough from where he was still able to control the ball. There is probably an inspiration factor at play here too. Mickelson is obviously excited about working with Harmon. The work they are doing might not yet be bearing fruit in the sense that Mickelson is still playing too many approach shots from the rough, but he is seemingly riding a wave of motivation and enthusiasm that is having a positive effect elsewhere in his game.

Another taking great heart from a stellar performance this past weekend will be Sergio Garcia, who finished second after firing his best Sunday score (66) since winning the Booz Allen Classic in June 2005. An impressive 94.44% of greens in regulation and eight single putts including a 38-foot bomb at the 71st hole will surely help him exercise his own Sunday demons and see him win again before long.

Perhaps the biggest winner of the week though was the tournament itself which, by switching dates from March to May and upgrading its course, might have convinced many that it deserves to be included among the game’s major titles. No doubt it did itself a lot of favors by making the necessary changes, but even they probably weren’t enough. No, you need to make the right changes, and then wait 50 odd years.

tonydear71@comcast.net