What If: Phil Mickelson Wins the 2006 U.S. Open

After seeing it replayed multiple times on the Golf Channel recently(yes, I do fairly frequently tune to the Golf Channel), I always wonder what would have happened in the world of golf had Phil Mickelson won the 2006 U.S. Open. Before the monumental collapse at 18, Mickelson had won the previous two majors and looked like he would hold on to win his third. At the same time, Tiger was having a subpar season, although a lot of that could be the attributed to the illness and eventual death of his late father Earl Woods. Still, even with Vijay's brief run at the top of the World Golf Rankings in 2004, no one had seriously challenged Tiger's reign as the dominant figure in golf. Now, it looked like Phil, who always possessed the most complete besides Tiger, was on the cusp on putting a serious dent in Tiger's control. An awful drive, even poorer second shot and double-bogey later, and Phil was left to explain how he let go of that elusize U.S. Open title. Two months and two major wins later, and Tiger had left all doubt on who's number one to rest.

However, fast forward to today and we may be back on the verge of a Tiger-Phil showdown. Phil has hired Tiger's old swing coach, Butch Harmon, and now appears to be driving the golf ball better than he has in years. At his recent Players victory, Phil played the weekend from the middle of the fairway. Even while he was winning back-to-back majors in 2005-2006, Phil would often be miraculously extracting himself from awful situations and would avoid making a big numbers. During the final round of last year's fateful Open, Phil hit 2 fairways all day. The final hole collapse may have actually been a blessing in disguise, as it caused Phil to reevaluate his swing and eventually call on Butch Harmon, the best swing coach in the golfing world, to correct his flaws. Now, it looks like Phil may be more poised than even to make a serious run at Tiger.

In the end, the Winged Foot wreck may turn out to be a good thing for Phil. Winning there may have been fool's gold, as Phil has needed to address his driving problem for a long time. While he managed to reign the swing in some for his awesome 2004 season, his struggles have dated all the way back to when he purposely altered the swing during Tiger's first dominant run in order to gain distance. Now, he seems to be committed to finding fairways, even if that means giving up 10-15 yards off his drives. On the other hand, Tiger keeps on struggling with his driver and has to extract himself on far too many holes. While I would be crazy to predict a grand shift, do not count out Phil making a serious run at Tiger's perch at the top of the golf word.