Mickelson Can’t Afford to Wait

Phil Mickelson is the world’s No. 2 player, coming off a victory at Hartford and a winner of 21 PGA Tour events. He has plenty of money, a loving family, good looks and a golf game that’s second to, well, one.

To unseat Tiger Woods, at least occasionally, he says he has had to toss aside the philosophy set by the man with the most major championships in history--Jack Nicklaus.

“I have listened to Nicklaus talk over the course of his career and somewhat tried to buy into his theory of stay near the lead, just kind of hang in there, and let the leaders come back on Sunday,” he said. “And that has not worked for me, because Tiger hasn’t come back.

“So I have to approach the first three rounds now in a different light ... try to vault into the lead early....

“To have a chance on Sunday, I need to be right there heading into the final day.”

Mickelson shot an even-par 70 in the final round of the U.S. Open to Woods’ 72, but still lost to Woods by three.

“It’s been difficult for Nicklaus to equate how he played majors 30 years ago and how they’re played today, and his style and why his style is no longer effective,” Mickelson said.

“That doesn’t apply to the game anymore. So you have to look at a different style to win majors, a more attacking, aggressive style to compete against somebody that doesn’t make mistakes.”

That aggressive style at Muirfield, as he tries to win his first major championship and keep Woods from taking the third leg of the Grand Slam this week in the British Open, won’t come from the tee boxes, but, he hopes, from the fairways.

Mickelson, like virtually every other player in the 156-man field, says he’ll be hitting two-irons, three-irons, even four-irons off many tees to set himself up, then go after the pins

“There are many pins that you can get to; the front of the greens are all open, so you can bounce shots up and get them close,” he said.

“As long as I put the ball in the fairway, then I can attack. I would say I want to play attacking golf from the tee, which means not necessarily hitting driver. It means positioning myself in the fairway to where I can attack the pin. And that’s the way I see Muirfield being played.”

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Mickelson, who had never played Muirfield, arrived Saturday and played 54 holes over the weekend. “It’s probably my favorite course in the rotation,” he said of the eight or so regular British Open courses.

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The forecast calls for mild weather for the first few days of the tournament, then the possibility of northerly winds on the weekend. Of course, with the weather so variable off the Firth of Forth, that can change in a second. There was little mention of rain before Tuesday or Wednesday, but there was a constant drizzle both days.

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Only two holes were changed from the 1992 Open at Muirfield, the fourth and 13th. Each par-three was lengthened about 30 yards.

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Michael Campbell, who won the European Open two weeks ago and was sixth last week at the Scottish Open, may be someone to watch at Muirfield. Campbell, 33, challenged for the 1995 British Open title at St. Andrews, where he had a 65 on Saturday, but tied for third when he closed with a 76.

“I’m definitely a better player than I was seven years ago,” he said.

“Tiger is always up there and has a very good show of winning again, but this golf course is suited to many other players, unlike Bethpage and Augusta. Muirfield is around 300 yards shorter than those courses and the nature of this course and the shots you have to play--as opposed to Bethpage, a big-hitter’s course--will bring into the equation about 60 guys that can win this tournament.”

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His back has not bothered him, so Colin Montgomerie says he is healthy as he tries for the 15th time to win the British Open. The closest he came was in 1994, when he tied for eighth at Turnberry, but Montgomerie tied for 13th last year at Lytham and that’s his second best result.

Montgomerie says he had a chance last year when Woods didn’t play well and tied for 25th.

“I think David Duval took that opportunity with Tiger not performing last year. It was an opportunity for everybody. [Duval] took it. I didn’t.”

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Padraig Harrington offered an interesting opinion on why the so-called name players have seldom been able to knock off Woods head-to-head.

“I think the guys who have beaten Tiger in the past tend to be guys who have grown up or performed most of their golfing career as underdogs, so they’re used to that situation,” Harrington said.

He listed Billy Mayfair as an example. Mayfair defeated Woods in a playoff to win the 1998 Nissan Open at Valencia Country Club.

“It’s obviously tougher for guys who are always the top dog to have the role reversed and to be the underdog coming up against Tiger. They are not familiar with that situation.”

Harrington, three strokes behind Woods after 36 holes at the U.S. Open, was paired with him in the third round, but he staggered to a 73-75 weekend and finished nine shots behind.

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Kermit Alexander, Al Downing, Don Ford, Mitch Gaylord, Paul Gonzalez, Andy Carey and Marlin McKeever are among the celebrities expected to play in the charity tournament of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 on Monday at Robinson Ranch in Santa Clarita. The event benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Details: (760) 632-7770....

The Vince Ferragamo Foundation celebrity tournament at Los Coyotes in Buena Park last month raised more than $200,000 for the Special Olympics and local charities....

The Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center charity event will be played Aug. 19 at Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Irvine. Details: (714) 543-4333, ext. 517.