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"People think it's an advantage to be playing at home, but it's anything but," said Mickelson's short-game coach, Dave Pelz. "There have been a lot of distractions for Phil. Everybody wants a piece of him."
Pelz had a point. In their role as unofficial tournament hosts, Phil and wife Amy entertained players and their families on two separate evenings at their residence in Rancho Santa Fe. On Wednesday, Mickelson practiced in the morning at his home club, the Bridges, then hustled to daughter Amanda's school to watch her end-of-the-year presentation on astronaut Sally Ride. The next day, after besting Tiger Woods by a stroke and Scott by two in their first-round marquee pairing, Mickelson took a quick shower and was in the audience for son Evan's singing recital. Said Amy, "Phil's been amazing trying to juggle everything."
Phil was also amazing trying to explain why he started the week without a driver in his bag. "It's because the three-wood carries 275 [yards]," he said on Saturday. "So it's running about 300 here [on the firm fairways] and it's simply easier to hit fairways at 300 than 320." That, of course, was the argument he had rejected two years before at Winged Foot, where he chose to hit driver instead of three-wood on the 72nd hole and wound up pummeling a hospitality tent.
Pelz, who has seen Mickelson win tournaments with sets that were top-heavy (two drivers) or bottom-heavy (five wedges), wondered why the pundits were excoriating his pupil for playing safe for a change. "If he's in the fairway all the time, I don't think anybody can beat him," said Pelz. "I got roasted for saying that once, but I truly believe it."
Three-woods, alas, can be hit off line, the same as drivers. Mickelson found only six fairways and seven greens on Friday afternoon, and if it weren't for his scrambling skills he might have shot 80 instead of 75. (One memorable Mickelsave hinged on a cliffhanger lob from the hazard behind and below the 3rd green, followed by a 30-foot putt over a ridge for his par.) It wasn't until the next day, though, that Mickelson's dream died. Lying 2 in the fairway on the par-5 13th, he attacked the front pin with his L-wedge from 80 yards, only to see the ball roll back to his feet. Switching to his 64-degree sand wedge, he repeated the feat not once, but twice, as if to prove that it was no fluke.
