Mickelson's Finish Is Out of Left Field

By THOMAS BONK

April 15, 2004 12 AM PT

It’s all over except for the smiling, at least that’s the way Phil Mickelson is treating the Masters, and it’s hard to imagine a more popular winner, unless it could have been 74-year-old Arnold Palmer, who probably would have won, fainted and then retired.

But you couldn’t have expected that to happen. There were many who really believed Mickelson was looking at his best chance, so his victory isn’t that much of an upset, no matter that it took him 12 years as a pro to get it done.

Long before Mickelson’s stirring one-shot victory over Ernie Els, many golf experts, trend-watchers and Masters know-it-alls figured they had a pretty good handle on what would transpire in the tranquil greenery at Augusta National.

It’s possible that never before have so many been so wrong about so much.

Since hindsight is 20-20, here is an unofficial list of the Top 10 Things That Nobody Expected to See at the 2004 Masters:

1. Phil ‘er up: The best player in the field hit 53 greens and that was, yes, the former play-it-out-of-the-rough-and-hope-for-the-best Mickelson, who also had only two three-putts, none in the last 59 holes.

2. Augusta’s back nine: One of the most popular pre-tournament story lines was that the course changes of the last few years have made it so difficult that there no longer was any chance of heroic charges on Sunday. That theory didn’t pan out, not with Mickelson’s shooting a 31 and birdieing five of the last seven and two others, K.J. Choi and Sergio Garcia, matching that 31 and Els shooting three-under with an eagle, a birdie and no bogeys.

3. The par-fives: To have any chance, you have to chop them down to size, right? Consider that Els was 13 under on the par-fives and Mickelson was only five under.

4. The hole truth: So the nasty, elongated 465-yard 18th would play so much easier in dry conditions than last year when it was wet? No difference. For the second straight year, the 18th was the second-most difficult hole. The biggest change from last year was the first hole, which was only the fifth toughest this year but replaced the 11th as the most difficult from a year ago. So how difficult was the course, and -- wet or dry -- which is the most difficult hole? There were 149 fewer bogeys this year than last year (106 fewer of them on the back) and the scoring average was lower this year (73.79 to 74.65).

5. Tiger’s troubles: Tiger Woods tied for 22nd, his worst finish at the Masters since he turned pro. And even worse, he was behind a 19-year-old amateur, Casey Wittenberg, who got into the field as the second-place finisher in the U.S. Amateur, which is hardly close to the classification Woods enjoys as the world’s top-ranked player.

6. Lefty is right: No left-hander had won the Masters until last year, when Mike Weir became the first lefty to win a major since Bob Charles at the 1963 British Open. Now it’s two years in a row.

7. Not fair: Palmer, who said goodbye as he played in his 50th consecutive Masters, was the only player without a birdie.

8. Sandy says: Sandy Lyle, the 1988 Masters champion, who is 46 and had missed the cut 10 times in 15 years since his victory, said it all when he made the cut, despite drawing the worst pairing of the tournament for the second year in a row, twin anchors Charles Coody, 66, and Tommie Aaron, 67, who were a combined 49 over par in 36 holes. Lyle wound up tied for 37th, one shot short of Justin Leonard.

9. Sergio, Sergio: Remember Sergio Garcia, the one-time superstar on training wheels? He’s 24 now, not the giggling 19-year-old who was second to Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship. He eagled the 15th hole twice in four days, shot the lowest round Sunday with a 66, came from 11 shots back on the last day to get everybody’s attention and then acted as if the whole thing made him angry, so he let reporters know: “I just hope you guys don’t come out now saying, ‘Oh, you know, he’s back, and this is the Sergio we know,’ and all that.... I know you guys only look at a handful of players.”

10. And finally: No round got washed out and there wasn’t a playoff.

This Week

PGA TOUR

MCI Hertigage

* When: Today-Sunday.

* Where: Harbour Town Golf Links (6,973 yards, par 71); Hilton Head Island, S.C.

* Purse: $4.8 million. Winner’s share: $864,000.

* TV: USA (today-Friday, 4-6 p.m., delayed) and Channel 2 (Saturday-Sunday, noon-3 p.m.).

* 2003 winner: Davis Love III.

* Next week: Shell Houston Open.

LPGA TOUR

Takefuji Classic