Every week of the 2009 PGA Tour season, the editorial staff of the SI Golf Group will conduct an e-mail roundtable. Check in on Mondays for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors.
Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Let's start in Shanghai. Pretty exciting stuff, on the final three holes especially. At 16, Phil Mickelson whiffed a flop shot, chunked the next one and holed an 18-footer to save par. Tiger Woods fluffed a flop on the same hole, dumping his into a bunker, then clanged his bunker shot off the flagstick to save par. Ernie Els shot a closing 63 but put his second shot in the lake on the reachable par-5 finishing hole. That bogey cost him a chance at winning.
Should we read anything into this? Is Mickelson going to have a monster 2010?
Cameron Morfit, senior writer, Golf Magazine: It's interesting the way Phil and Tiger's long, multi-faceted relationship is trending. Tiger used to own Phil like Hideki Matsui owns Pedro. Not anymore. At this moment in time, Phil is clearly the best player in the world. The question is, can he sustain it into 2010 and someday overtake Tiger in the ranking? The way Phil is putting, anything is possible. He seems reborn.
Jim Herre, managing editor, SI Golf Group: More clutch putting from Phil has to be a good sign for him in 2010.
Damon Hack, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Seems to me Phil has become a lot more comfortable seeing the red shirt on Sundays. Deutsche Bank a couple of years ago, the Masters in April and now Shanghai. Phil has always been Tiger's biggest threat, and now he's starting to cash in some chips.
Van Sickle: Making putts again will rejuvenate anyone. See Payne Stewart and Vijay Singh (briefly) for details. I believe Phil is poised for a big 2010, a strong late-career run and maybe, finally, even a U.S. Open.
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Phil's best golf has always been good enough to scare Tiger. The big difference is that Tiger plays at a high level every time he tees it up, while Phil usually only shows up for three or four weeks a year. I'll believe Phil is the best player in the world when he can sustain this level of play for a full season. (And pick off a couple more majors.)
David Dusek, deputy editor, Golf.com: It's so much better for golf to have a real challenger for Tiger in the No. 2 spot. Mickelson wins at East Lake, has a great Presidents Cup and now wins in China with a star-studded leaderboard. Can we just play the Masters next week, after Disney?
Morfit: The most amazing part of the week was not something I saw but something I read, that Phil said mid-round Saturday, "Someone's got his putter back!" I can't believe he said that out loud. Everyone knows not to taunt the Golf Gods like that. And yet he still won. He clearly feels bulletproof.
Dick Friedman, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: I loved the action at the HSBC and loved the names in the mix (Big Easy! Young Rory!), but I also loved that it was Saturday Night Live — the end of prime time here in the east. The LPGA especially, with its large Asian contingent and prospective schedule, should take note for Golf Channel purposes.
Shipnuck: I thought it was one of the best rounds of golf of the year, or maybe millennium, with wild momentum swings among an all-star crew. If this is golf in China, sign me up!
Ryan Reiterman, producer, Golf.com: Not sure if Tiger feels the same way. He didn't look happy to be there all week, and the cameras never stopped clicking in his backswing. It was shocking how fast he was out of the tournament on Sunday.
Van Sickle: I have to give a little credit to rust for the miscues. Doubt if Phil and Tiger honed their games to get ready for China. Probably didn't touch a club until they had to after the Prez Cup.
Shipnuck: Tiger is always fully prepared to play whenever he shows up at a tournament. No way rust is an excuse. For sure he got nailed by a bunch of itchy trigger-fingers among the camera-wielding hordes, but so did all the players, and Woods has many years of practice dealing with jumpy galleries. He just didn't get it done, plain and simple.
Hack: Tiger showing up means Tiger's ready to win. No rust talk, please.
John Garrity, contributing writer, Sports Illustrated: I'll accept that Tiger might hit one bad shot because of a shutter click, but one of the TV guys kept pushing "the distractions of the big crowd are hurting Tiger." Huh? Woods faces those distractions every time he plays, and besides, he's the guy who was trained to block everything out. I don't buy it.
Dusek: The same broadcasters compared Tiger's meltdown on the ninth hole of the fourth round to Greg Norman's at Augusta. Let's keep things in perspective, shall we?
Herre: Right, David. I know there's a tendency in the States to fawn over the Euro tour broadcast crew, but I'll take Johnny any day. I also don't buy the idea that Tiger was distracted by the fans, but the crowds were immense, and as usual everyone wanted to get a glimpse of Tiger.
Garrity: They did, indeed. But it was Mickelson, with his smiles and eye contact, who won over the Chinese fans. Phil's win has to make Finchem and all the other tour execs happy.
Dusek: Any Phil win should make everyone in the golf world happy. When Mickelson is winning, or at least playing well, there is more than one thoroughbred in the race.
Jim Gorant, senior editor, Sports Illustrated Golf Plus: I always thought that was true too, but it's amazing how many golf fans just want to see Tiger win. Over and over again, by as many shots as possible.
Shipnuck: Tiger will deservedly be player of the year in '09, but his shocking stumble out of the gate in Shanghai — ball in the water, flubbed chips, 4 over on the first 7 holes — is of a piece with his Sunday meltdown at the PGA, the missed putt on the last hole at Liberty National and the Sunday beatdown Phil administered at the Tour Championship. When it comes to Tiger, Phil has never felt this emboldened, and I'm guessing he's not alone.
