Leave it to Mickelson, an inventor of circus shots, to cook up a scheme to extricate himself from the grip of L.A. traffic. For the second straight year he commuted by private plane from his home in Rancho Santa Fe, 110 miles to the south. Each morning he flew out of McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad and landed at the Santa Monica Airport, about six miles from Riviera. Mickelson estimated that the trip from the front door of his house to the gates of Riviera took about an hour. A year ago the plan seemed to be leading Mickelson to victory until he bogeyed the 72nd hole and fell into a playoff with Charles Howell, the eventual winner. Nevertheless, Mickelson again opted for air travel and pregame tips from Alcott. Last Wednesday she occasionally asked him to hit flop shots, just for kicks — "I want you to really fillet this one," Alcott told him — but she also gave him pointers on Riviera's subtle greens.
"I said, ‘Phil, you don't need me,' " said Alcott. "He said, ‘But you've got great eyes.' Can you imagine Ben Hogan calling up Patty Berg and saying, ‘Patty, you grew up at Interlachen — will you help me?' It's the uniqueness of Phil because he likes information, but more important, it speaks to the wealth and breadth of him."
Carrying a four-stroke lead over Quinney into the weekend, Mickelson's putting kept him out of trouble despite the occasional wayward shot. (For the week he ranked eighth in putts per greens hit in regulation.) On Saturday, following an ace by Quinney at the 199-yard 6th hole, Mickelson threw a birdie on top of him, draining a downhill six-footer. When he temporarily fell a stroke behind on Sunday after a bogey at the 9th, Mickelson birdied the 10th from six feet and then got up and down from a bunker at 14, curling in a seven-footer for par while Quinney made the second of three straight bogeys. "When I first started playing here, I didn't understand the nuances of this course," Mickelson said. "Last year was when I started to put it together, and I'm fortunate to break through this year."
After making a stress-free par at the last, Mickelson shook the hands of playing partners Quinney and John Rollins, then headed toward the stairs behind the green. When he spotted Alcott along the rope line, he leaned over and gave her a hug. Mickelson's caddie, Jim (Bones) MacKay, carrying the 18th flagstick, turned to Alcott and said, "Nice going, Amy."
Looking trim in his Sunday black, Mickelson marched to the top of the stairs, walked past a statue of Hogan and was soon talking about the Match Play and the run-up to Augusta. Mickelson knows that every step in February and March is about building toward a perfect week in April. Somewhere beyond the rolling hills of Riviera, Woods is surely thinking the same thing.
