Mickelson

AKRON, Ohio -- There was little of the drama of the recent PGA Championship, when Tiger Woods frittered away all but a stroke of a five-shot lead to hold off Sergio Garcia. And there was none of the back-nine gamesmanship that occurred between Woods and Garcia at Medinah, since Woods and Phil Mickelson were four holes apart.Though the similarities were few -- none if you asked Woods -- in yesterday's final round of the $5 million NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club, the result was the same.

PINEHURST, N.C. -- Steve Stricker can relate to what Phil Mickelson is going through at this year's U.S. Open, playing the role of would-be father with his first major championship in reach.At last year's PGA Championship, Stricker was tied for the lead going into the final round while his wife, Nicky, was two weeks from giving birth to their first child. Stricker lost to Vijay Singh by two shots."Yeah, I was prepared to pull out of the PGA Championship last year," Stricker said yesterday.

BROOKLINE, Mass. -- Tiger Woods said before the 33rd Ryder Cup began that his career shouldn't be judged on his performance in this biennial event, and his remarkable run over the past three months wouldn't be overshadowed should he struggle at The Country Club.But if the U.S. team were to lose today to Europe, Woods would have to feel partially responsible, perhaps even more than he did as a rookie back at Valderrama two years ago. After seemingly heating up yesterday morning, Woods cooled off in the afternoon by missing several putts late.

PINEHURST, N.C. -- Phil Mickelson's run at his first major championship has a little competition this week, both here at the Pinehurst Resort and Country Club as well as back home in Arizona.Mickelson was the first to finish yesterday's opening round in the 99th U.S. Open at 3-under-par 67, but he wasn't the last. David Duval, playing in the same group, was seconds behind.It seemed as if they were followed by a cast of thousands.In the end, Billy Mayfair and journeyman Paul Goydos were the only other players to finish there.

PINEHURST, N.C. -- The greens of Pinehurst No. 2 were the centerpiece of the 99th U.S. Open, the crowned jewels that Scottish designer Donald Ross laid out nearly a century ago.They will be remembered for even more now.They are where Payne Stewart won the second Open championship of his career early last night. They are also where Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods lost their chances for a first Open title.Stewart, 42, made three straight putts down the stretch, one bigger than the next, to overtake Mickelson by one shot and hold off Woods and reigning PGA champion Vijay Singh by two.As the final putt, a 15-footer to save par, dropped into the hole, Stewart thrust his fist in the air twice as his caddie, Mike Hicks, jumped into his arms like Yogi Berra did after Don Larsen pitched his perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

The first anniversary of one of golf's most transcendent moments will be celebrated this week. It will mark a year since Tiger Woods became the first person of color to win the Masters, making history and setting the record for the lowest-ever four-round score at Augusta National.Perhaps Woods will revive some of those memories when he returns there for the 62nd Masters beginning Thursday. Perhaps he will, as many have predicted, add another green jacket to what most expect to be a closetful over the course of his career.

TULSA, Okla. -- This one had all the suspense of Tyson-Seldon.Tom Lehman, who had to sleep on a nine-stroke lead for two nights waiting to administer the coup de grace in the rain-delayed, season-ending $3 million Tour Championship, finished off the job with relative ease yesterday.On a foggy, soggy day at Southern Hills, Lehman, 37, drove in the finishing nail with a sledgehammer. He shot a final-round 71 for a total of 12-under-par 268 to defeat Brad Faxon (68-274) by six strokes and close out his finest season as a professional.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Russ Cochran is quiet, tenacious, left-handed and, oh yeah, he's from Kentucky.Yesterday, Cochran, 37, played his best round of the year, perhaps the round of his life, to take the lead after 54 holes of the PGA Championship and give the massive crowds another reason to hoot and holler over the genteel game of golf.Cochran, of Paducah, Ky., established a course record with a 7-under-par 65 to complete three trips around the Valhalla Golf Club with an 11-under 205 total and a two-stroke lead over Mark Brooks and Vijay Singh.

TULSA -- It looked as if the mercy rule was going to be put into effect for the final round of this year's $3 million Tour Championship here at Southern Hills.A combination of Tom Lehman's nine-shot lead and torrential rains yesterday appeared to have wiped out the last 18 holes. But after initially pushing up the starting times by some five hours to beat the storm, then waiting around three more hours, PGA Tour officials announced shortly before noon that they would try to hold the final round at 9: 30 a.m. today.

TULSA -- It looked as if the mercy rule was going to be put into effect for the final round of this year's $3 million Tour Championship here at Southern Hills.A combination of Tom Lehman's nine-shot lead and torrential rains yesterday appeared to have wiped out the last 18 holes. But after initially pushing up the starting times by some five hours to beat the storm, then waiting around three more hours, PGA Tour officials announced shortly before noon that they would try to hold the final round at 9: 30 a.m. today.

At one point during the U.S. Open telecast Monday, NBC showed a series of pictures of Phil Mickelson hugging his wife, Amy, over the years. And then the network played the audio of Phil telling reporters earlier this week that, before the tournament, Amy had left him a series of notes mentioning that she hoped to have a big silver trophy next to her in the hospital when she goes in for breast cancer treatment early next month. I'd heard that clip a few times already, so it didn't really affect me, but my wife had not heard it. And so I wasn't surprised to look down toward the other end of the couch and see tears running down her face.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- The crown of the PGA Tour's Everyman has not always rested easily atop Phil Mickelson's head. Often, what you saw and what you got were not what you believed. There were the long lines of autograph seekers who were never left unsatisfied. There were the frequent appearances in pro-am events, especially those long grinds such as the Bob Hope Classic, where Mickelson actually seemed to enjoy every minute and always made his 15-handicap partners feel as if they actually mattered.

Colleges UConn coach Calhoun hospitalized after collapse Connecticut men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun was hospitalized Saturday after he collapsed following a 50-mile charity bicycle ride during which he fell and broke five ribs. Team spokesman Kyle Muncy said Calhoun, 67, was taken to the UConn Health Center in Farmington, where he was to be held overnight for observation and released today. Muncy said there were no other health concerns. Maureen McGuire, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said Calhoun told her he hit a pothole and fell with about 16 miles to go in the ride.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -They will meet at the first tee Sunday morning, shake hands and perhaps pretend to wish each other good luck. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, together at last, side by side as they stroll down the fairways for the final round at Augusta National. One problem: They are not in the final group. Or the second-to-last. Or the ... They will go off a full 60 minutes before co-leaders Angel Cabrera and Kenny Perry. That should tell you just how unlikely it is that either will need to supply his jacket size to Masters officials.

Mickelson wins, takes No. 2 ranking golf No longer the best player without a World Golf Championship, Phil Mickelson won a spirited duel in Doral, Fla., yesterday to capture the CA Championship and put himself in position to reach No. 1 in the world. Mickelson, taken to a hospital on the eve of the final round with heat exhaustion and dehydration, outlasted seven lead changes in 11 holes against Nick Watney before hanging on with seven pars for a 3-under 69 and a one-shot victory. Mickelson won for the second time in four weeks and moved to No. 2 in the world ranking, as close to Tiger Woods as he has ever been.

Phelps appears to be aiming for '12 Games swimming Michael Phelps believes he can maintain his passion for competition through the 2012 Olympics, the swimmer said yesterday in an interview on NBC's Today show. Phelps seemed to indicate that he's leaning toward competing in the London Games, something he was uncertain about after a photo of him inhaling from a marijuana pipe appeared in a British tabloid. "There are still things I want to achieve, things I want to accomplish," Phelps told Matt Lauer.

Mickelson leads by four in L.A. after 9-under 62 golf Phil Mickelson was in contention for the first time all year and wanted to make sure he stayed there. Moments after signing his scorecard after the second round - which was nine shots worse than his opening round - he called Butch Harmon in Las Vegas and asked whether he could meet him on the range yesterday morning at Riviera Country Club. The work paid off in the PGA Northern Trust Open. Mickelson made four straight birdies in the final hour of the third round to pull away from a strong leader board with a 9-under-par 62, topping the personal best at Riviera he had set two days earlier and building a four-shot lead going into the final round.

THE LEADERS ... Joe Ogilvie 34-32-66 -4 K.J. Choi 34-32-66 -4 Jim Furyk 32-34-66 -4 Stuart Appleby 32-34-66 -4 Vijay Singh 34-32-66 -4 ... and selected others Fred Funk 35-32-67 -3 Tiger Woods 35-38-73 +3 Phil Mickelson 38-36-74 +4 Ben Curtis 39-36-75 +5 Full scoreboard, PG 4E

OAKMONT, Pa.-- --It's not so bad playing in the shadow. Jim Furyk grew up not far from here, had family and friends sprinkled in the gallery yesterday and had already won the U.S. Open once before. But he wasn't the one they were all here to see, and he wasn't the reason the gallery and media contingent following his playing group topped even that of Tiger Woods. There was a single hole that seemed to quaintly illustrate the differences between the stoic Furyk and affable Phil Mickelson.

OAKMONT, Pa. -- It could be that Phil Mickelson will long for the day when he was an idiot. At least back then he still could swing a club. Right now, it seems very unlikely that Mickelson will redeem himself for the U.S. Open meltdown at Winged Foot Golf Club, the one last June in which he turned a lead into a loss on the last hole and said, "I am such an idiot." He showed up at this Open in a different kind of pain, one in his inflamed left wrist. If it weren't the U.S. Open, if it were some other tournament, he probably would not be playing, he said yesterday at Oakmont Country Club.