Mickelson finally feeling better

By: BRIAN HIRO - Staff Writer
+ Sickness waning, RSF resident out to tackle Torrey | Wednesday, January 23, 2008 11:43 PM PST ∞

Phil Mickelson watches his drive on the 10th hole.
BILL WECHTER Staff Photographer
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LA JOLLA -- Virtually the entire field for this week's Buick Invitational attended one of two meetings at the Torrey Pines driving range Tuesday to educate golfers about the PGA Tour's new drug-testing program, which will be implemented in July.

One player who didn't show up was Phil Mickelson, who's only the second-most-recognizable golfer in the world. Of course, Mickelson's absence from the anti-doping session was excused.

"I was a little doped up myself on prescription stuff," Mickelson said Wednesday, drawing chuckles from the assembled media.

Mickelson could afford to joke about his condition after completing Wednesday's pro-am round on the North Course, which dispelled fears that he might be forced to miss his first tournament of the season -- not to mention the tour's annual stop at the San Diego native's hometown course -- because of a nasty respiratory ailment that has been diagnosed as bronchitis.

"I feel a lot better," Mickelson said. "... I should be fine here shortly."

Mickelson hasn't played competitively since mid-November, when he edged Ross Fisher and Lee Westwood in a playoff to win the European Tour's HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Around the time of the trip, Mickelson began to experience problems with his lungs, causing congestion, shortness of breath and fatigue.

Mickelson said he doesn't know if the bronchitis was a product of the October wildfires, after which he returned to his Rancho Santa Fe home to help clean up debris. What he does know is that the ordeal, which lasted more than two months, has been frustrating.

"I've had my voice kind of scratchy like this the past couple months, and finally we're getting a diagnosis of what it is," he said. "Certainly antibiotics haven't worked, and I just haven't been able to get rid of it."

Mickelson's body finally appears to have recovered, and he hopes that his game will be in similarly fine shape as he begins his 17th season as a professional.

Despite an awful performance in the majors last year -- he didn't finish better than a tie for 24th place in any of the four premier tournaments, and even missed the cut at the U.S. Open and the British Open while playing with a left wrist injury -- Mickelson finished third in the inaugural FedExCup standings behind Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, and earned almost $6 million.

The source of his optimism for 2008 is his months of work with Butch Harmon, the renowned swing coach who helped Woods win eight majors early in his career before they severed their relationship. With the bronchitis limiting his time on the course, Mickelson devoted his offseason to improving his strength and explosiveness.

The idea is to increase the velocity of his swing, which allows him to accommodate Harmon's preferred shorter arc without sacrificing distance off the tee. That, in turn, should enable Mickelson to curb the frequent inaccuracy that has been a trademark of his career.

"I'm much better physically equipped to (handle) the changes that Butch Harmon and I are implementing," Mickelson said. "... So I feel like I'll be able to drive the ball in the fairway or just off the edges, keeping the ball in play, not having the big misses ... I have in the past. In the past I've had penalty strokes almost every tournament.

"I think that's a realistic goal, to go the entire four rounds in a number of events without any penalty shots, which doesn't seem like a big deal but it has been for me in the past. I think that will allow me to get to my strengths, which is 150 yards in."

Considering that he essentially grew up on the course, Mickelson would figure to have a significant advantage over his competitors when the U.S Open comes to Torrey Pines for the first time in June. But though Mickelson has won the Buick Invitational three times, his last title came in 2001, before the South Course was redesigned by Rees Jones later that year in a bid to attract the Open.

Mickelson realizes that he must prove he can tame the new beast, which will be played at an Open-record 7,643 yards this summer.

"When the South was redesigned, I lost all that local knowledge and knowing which way every putt broke that I had gained from playing countless high school matches here," he said. "As time has gone on, I begin to get more comfortable with this golf course, and I find that you have to play it much more patient than in the past. In the past, it was a course you could really light up, make a lot of birdies, and now it's a course where you have to pick your spots.

"... Changing the mind-set from attack to playing for par has been the biggest challenge for me. But as soon as I've been able to do that, I've played this course a lot better."

-- Contact staff writer Brian Hiro at b_hiro@hotmail.com. Comment at sports.nctimes.com.

Buick Invitational

Today's tee times

At Torrey Pines

South Course

First tee

8:30 a.m. Peter Lonard, Bob Tway, Patrick Sheehan

8:40 Duffy Waldorf, Cliff Kresge, Robert Garrigus

8:50 Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan, Vijay Singh

9 George McNeill, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk

9:10 John Senden, Jason Bohn, Fred Couples

9:20 Chris Stroud, Y.E. Yang, Jon Mills

9:30 Ron Whittaker, Matt Jones, Jamie Lovemark (Rancho Santa Fe)

9:40 Shigeki Maruyama, Frank Lickliter II, Charlie Wi

9:50 Lucas Glover, Kevin Sutherland, Bo Van Pelt

10 Aaron Baddeley, Will MacKenzie, Kenny Perry

10:10 Ben Curtis, Bart Bryant, Jerry Kelly

10:20 Matt Kuchar, Briny Baird, Omar Uresti

10:30 Parker McLachlin, Nicholas Thompson, Todd Demsey

10th tee

8:30 a.m. Pat Perez (Del Mar), John Mallinger (Escondido), Steve Marino

8:40 Vaughn Taylor, John Daly, Chris Riley

8:50 D.J. Trahan, Justin Leonard, David Duval

9 Mike Weir, Charley Hoffman (Poway), Troy Matteson

9:10 Mark Hensby, Brett Quigley, Alex Cejka

9:20 Brett Rumford, Richard Johnson, Peter Campbell

9:30 Nick Flanagan, Travis Perkins, Kenny Kim

9:40 Sean O'Hair, Tommy Armour III, Ryan Moore

9:50 Fredrik Jacobson, Tag Ridings, Jeff Quinney

10 Brian Bateman, Rod Pampling, Chris DiMarco

10:10 Mark Calcavecchia, J.J. Henry, Robert Allenby

10:20 Paul Azinger, Jay Williamson, Kevin Na

10:30 Roland Thatcher, Dustin Johnson, Justin B. Hicks

North Course

First tee

8:30 a.m. Tom Pernice Jr. (Murrieta), Steve Elkington, Ryuji Imada

8:40 J.L. Lewis, Tim Clark, Michael Allen

8:50 Geoff Ogilvy, Carl Pettersson, Stewart Cink

9 Rory Sabbatini, Boo Weekley, Todd Hamilton

9:10 Bob Estes, Rocco Mediate, Ken Duke

9:20 Justin Bolli, Tim Wilkinson, Brad Adamonis

9:30 Craig Kanada, Jin Park, Michael Letzig

9:40 Billy Mayfair, Stephen Leaney, Jeff Overton

9:50 Craig Barlow, Bill Haas, Kevin Stadler

10 Joe Durant, Dean Wilson, John Rollins

10:10 Stephen Ames, Brett Wetterich, Tom Lehman

10:20 Mark O'Meara, Johnson Wagner, Ryan Armour

10:30 Paul Claxton, Scott Sterling, Martin Laird

10th tee

8:30 a.m. J.P. Hayes, Cameron Beckman, Mathias Gronberg

8:40 Jason Gore, Scott McCarron, Jesper Parnevik

8:50 K.J. Choi, Phil Mickelson (Rancho Santa Fe), Jeff Maggert

9 Mark Wilson, Stuart Appelby, J.B. Holmes

9:10 Brandt Jobe, Kent Jones, Camilo Villegas

9:20 Chez Reavie, Kyle Thompson, Paul Wise

9:30 Doug LaBelle II, Jason Allred, Cody Freeman

9:40 Charles Warren, Bubba Watson, Anthony Kim

9:50 Rich Beem, Mathew Goggin, Nathan Green

10 Nick Watney, Charles Howell III, Tim Herron

10:10 Woody Austin, Eric Axley, Ben Crane

10:20 Carlos Franco, Nick O'Hern, Brenden Pappas

10:30 Jason Day, Marx Turnesa, Mathew Kodama