For Mickelson, Career Not Yet a Major Worry

He tied for 22nd in a 30-player field at Kapalua and then he tied for 61st at the Phoenix Open, but Phil Mickelson is pretty sure a fast start means a slow finish anyway.

Mickelson, the defending champion at the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, is a 13-time winner on the PGA Tour. Since he won the Northern Telcom Open in Tucson as an amateur in 1991, Mickelson has carved out a niche as golf’s next young superstar.

But because he’s turning 29 in June--David Duval is two years younger and Tiger Woods is six years younger--Mickelson isn’t exactly young anymore. And he isn’t exactly a superstar until he wins a major.

Mickelson is playing for four consecutive weeks to get his game in shape and to allow him to take some time off when his wife, Amy, gives birth to their first child in June.

There were many who figured Mickelson would win his first major last year, because two were in the West: the U.S. Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco and the PGA at Sahalee near Seattle. He didn’t come close, tying for 10th at the Open, then for 34th at the PGA, his worst PGA showing.

But if the pressure is building for Mickelson to come up with a big performance in a big tournament, he doesn’t feel it.

“I’m only 28 and I feel like there is a lot of time left,” he said. “I think if I had reached 40 and not won a major, then I would be wondering myself.

“But I think it’s just a matter of time before that happens.”

Besides, as far as his peer group goes, Mickelson said it’s foolish to dwell on the relative youth of Duval and Woods.

“I think we tend to focus on the fact that David and Tiger are so young, which they are, but what’s really caused them to be the center of attention is their great play.”

Mickelson has been spending some time in Houston working with Jackie Burke to help find the last missing piece of an often brilliant, but still majorless career.

AND HE’S AT 98.6

Chi Chi Rodriguez, who had an angioplasty last October, has lost 17 pounds since his heart attack.

“If I drank a tomato juice right now and someone put numbers on me, I’d look like a thermometer,” he said.

Rodriguez, 63, hopes to return to the Senior PGA Tour next week at the American Express Invitational in Sarasota, Fla.

MURRAY REDUX

The day before the 1993 Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, comedian Bill Murray pulled an elderly woman from the gallery and spun her around in a bunker at No. 18 at Pebble Beach. She landed face first in the sand. The PGA Tour was not amused.

Wednesday, Murray pulled 65-year-old Fran East into a bunker at No. 18, spun her into the sand, then plopped on top of her and counted to three in a World Wrestling Federation imitation. Pebble Beach was not amused.

Thursday, a 4 1/2-foot high chain-link fence was up around the green, which ought to prevent Episode III.

ROLLING STONES

News item from last week’s Phoenix Open: A dozen fans in Woods’ gallery push a 1,000-pound rock out of his way so he has a clear shot to the 13th hole. Woods makes a birdie.

It was a perfectly legal move, but will we see it happen again? Probably.

Other players’ galleryites said they would move a 1,000-pound boulder for:

1. Arnold Palmer; 2. Jan Stephenson; 3. Jack Nicklaus; 4. Fred Couples; 5. Jill McGill.

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS

Attention Amy Alcott and Beth Daniel: Come on down! The results aren’t exactly a secret, but the LPGA says it will make an announcement Tuesday on the outcome of a players’ vote on changing the Hall of Fame requirements, which means Alcott and Daniel are going to gain instant entry.

‘WHEN I’M 64 . . . ‘

For what it’s worth--and it’s worth $5 million--the first World Championship tournament is in two weeks at La Costa, where the Andersen Consulting Match Play Championship will be played, featuring the top 64 players in the world according to the Official World Ranking.

The deadline for the top 64 is the end of next week’s Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. If the rankings do not change, the first match will be No. 1 Woods vs. No. 64 Nick Faldo. Not bad for an opener, is it?

By the way, the winner of the 36-hole final gets $1 million. First-round losers get $25,000.

JUSTIN TIME

How to post a great finish in a tournament: Justin Leonard finished second at Phoenix by playing the last 40 holes without a bogey.

16 CANDLES

The upstart Tour Players Assn. held its first meeting of the year at the Phoenix Open last week and 16 players showed up.

They heard a panel discussion on players’ associations with basketball Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson and Bill Russell, the Padres’ Wally Joyner and NFLPA lawyer Richard Berthelsen.

Danny Edwards, TPA president, said the TPA wants greater representation in the PGA Tour’s decisions. He said the small turnout showed the Tour players think they are powerless.

“The apathy is unbelievable on the PGA Tour,” Edwards said. “The players realize that they cannot contribute and get anything done.

“The players don’t come [to meetings] because they don’t believe they can have an impact.”

HAT TRICKS

Quickly now, what is Michelle McGann known for?

Not her golf, but her hats, of course. The only better known hat wearer was that guy running the tea party in “Alice in Wonderland.”

Anyway, here is the news you surely have been waiting for: McGann is launching a new line of women’s golf hats and hair accessories “that will allow women to look fabulous both on and off the golf course.”

Terrific.

BIRDIES, BOGEYS, PARS

Amateurs have a shot at $1 million in the Toyota-Nabisco Dinah Shore hole in one contest. The event, which benefits the United Way, will be held March 13-21 at Family Golf Center in Palm Desert, Mission Hills North and Blue Skies Country Club in Yucca Valley. Details: (760) 324-4546.

Band members of The Offspring, Sugar Ray and No Doubt are scheduled to play in the Schwing tournament Feb. 22 at Seacliff Country Club in Huntington Beach. The event benefits My Friends Place for homeless youth. Details: (949) 451-6330.

Hale Irwin, who won the Toshiba Senior Classic with a final-round 62, will be back to defend his title in the event at Newport Beach Country Club, March 12-14. The tournament benefits Hoag Heart Institute. Details: (949) 515-4840.