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NORTON, Mass. -- Phil Mickelson held off the world's best player in eye-to-eye fashion for the first time in his career on Monday, then was apparently so full of adrenaline and testosterone, he set his sights on an even bigger target.
The commissioner of the PGA Tour.
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| Lefty has other things on his mind than just holding off Tiger. (AP) |
Mickelson twice said after his round that he's iffy for the third FedEx Cup playoff event in Chicago later this week, claiming he has repeatedly asked the commissioner this year to make some unspecified tweaks with regard to the structure of the four-week series.
Since it didn't happen, Mickelson said he might skip the event, even though he has agreed to appear at a previously scheduled corporate outing Tuesday in Chicago, where the BMW Championship begins two days later. If that happens and Mickelson balks at playing, the probable Windy City blowback would make a Florida hurricane seem downright tame.
"My frustration from this past year came from asking for a couple of things in the FedEx Cup that weren't done and not really feeling all that bad now if I happen to miss," he said.
And you thought it took some brass to hold off Woods?
Mickelson has been dropping hints for more than a week that he might sit out the third stop on the so-called playoff string, but this was the first time he made it sound like some form of retribution.
He slightly distanced himself from his original comments, which aired on live television in his post-round interview, but not from the thrust of the issue.
"I don't have a problem. It's just that I'm a little conflicted on some things because I'm trying to ... I want to have a balance in my life," he said of spending time with his family. "And I certainly feel the obligation to play and support the FedEx Cup and to support the PGA Tour, support the game of golf."
Mickelson has played seven of the last nine weeks, including two events in Scotland, and this is usually the time of year when he throttles back his schedule to virtually nil.
"I want to have balance in my family life, and my family has sacrificed a lot this year because it's been a very difficult schedule," he said. "So it's been the last three months having no more than two days off at a time and working to do corporate outings in between.
"So our time together has struggled, and I want to have a balance there. (My kids) start school next week, so I have that conflict or an obligation and desire to be there."
You can hear the critics loading up their muskets in Chicago. Mickelson, of course, is the one who signed the corporate endorsement deals of his own volition, scheduled the corporate outings and spent the attendant riches.
Mickelson's wife and three children, not to mention his mom and mother-in-law, were in Boston all week and attended a Red Sox game with him Saturday night. So, being fair here, it's not like he hasn't seen them for days at a time.
Mickelson has formally committed to play the BMW event and if he backs out, he is required to write a letter to the commissioner within the next month explaining his reasons. What happens then, if anything, is anybody's guess since the public relations-paranoid tour doesn't make public its disciplinary actions or fines, assuming any are deemed warranted.
Mickelson twice declined to detail the specifics of his concerns with Finchem or the FedEx structure.
"I don't want to go into it," he said. "I want to support it [the FedEx series] and I certainly feel the obligation to, but I also have to have a balance both ways."
