Story Line With a Left Hook

The reinvention of Phil Mickelson didn’t actually begin on that Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club in the Masters a year ago, but it certainly could have.

When Mickelson’s 18-foot birdie putt disappeared into the bottom of the cup on the last hole of the last round on the last day, a series of events swung into motion, their lingering effects being felt even now.

Hang on to something and consider this: Mickelson, not Tiger Woods, is going to be more highly favored to win the Masters this week.

Could you say that a year ago? Well, you could have said they were going to start handing out orange jackets instead of green ones, but that wouldn’t have made it true.

But with the tournament ready to begin in four days, it’s clear that the Mickelsonian effect has been profound, affecting his own golf and golf in general.

This is from the champion:

“Well, there’s always room for improvement,” Mickelson said.

There also may be room in the Hall of Fame, which was not the case until last year at the Masters, and there’s also the weight of his 25 victories.

“It’s the last thing on my mind right now,” Mickelson said. “The total number of wins that I have and trying to get in the Hall of Fame, that’s the last thing on my mind.”

Let’s examine what we’ve learned since Mickelson got the first major victory of his 13-year career at 33.

He has the vertical leap of a boulder, judging by his celebration after making his winning putt on the 18th green.

He rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and, appearing quite comfortable in his green jacket, he was a guest on late-night television with David Letterman and Jay Leno.

He became an author, with his book “One Magical Sunday” now on the shelves.

He has won twice since the Masters, both times in February, when he shot a combined 36 under par at Phoenix and Pebble Beach.

He shed the lovable loser tag given him by the fans in favor of the more coveted lovable winner appellation.

He altered his game from a slugger dedicated to raw power to savvy, smart-swinging artist on the tee, and ramped down the voltage to invest more in the percentages of positioning.

He saw his ranking take off like the current price of a four-day Masters badge (listed at $2,845 online). The first week of January 2004, he was ranked 14th. After winning the Bob Hope, he was eighth entering the Masters. He was sixth after the Masters. He won twice to start this year and now he’s ranked No. 4.

It is perhaps the most eye-catching of Mickelson’s accomplishments and the best indication of how he has changed. Mickelson is part of the so-called Big Four, mentioned in the same sentence as No. 1 Vijay Singh, No. 2 Woods and No. 3 Ernie Els. No longer is Mickelson on the outside looking in; he’s always invited to the party these days.

The ramifications for the PGA Tour are huge, even bigger than that revamped bunker complex to the left of the 18th fairway at Augusta National.

Think of what’s happening now as the latest marketing device, one that the PGA Tour didn’t even come up with, but instead watched fall right in its lap. The Big Four -- it’s a rivalry, it’s about competition and it’s about the top players in the game, two of them international stars.

Singh is from Fiji and Els from South Africa, even though they both have homes in Florida. But when you add Woods and then Mickelson, consider the effect it will have when the tour begins negotiating with its television partners for the next network contract, which begins next year.

The current four-year agreement, worth an estimated $850 million, ends at the end of 2005, and while tour Commissioner Tim Finchem cautioned against expecting too much from the next deal, the fact there is a global aspect to the top-10 rankings and that the best players from all over the world (except Els) choose to play on the PGA Tour, it can’t be a bad thing for television rights.

In the meantime, the race for No. 1 promises to keep the issue in the forefront. Els says it’s always on his mind.

“It does make it exciting that you know you’re right there and any week ... I might become No. 1,” Els said.

“But, definitely, I think for all of us, I’ll speak for myself, personally, I like to just play to try to win a tournament and do as well as I can and hopefully the rest will take care of itself. But I’d always love to be No. 1 in this day and age, even if it’s for a week. That would be nice.”

As for Mickelson, the notion that he’s even being mentioned in the mix as a potential No. 1 player is something that could not have happened without, well, that one magical Sunday a year ago at the Masters.

Was it his best Sunday in April?

Mickelson thought about the question and then offered a simple answer:

“It was a pretty special Sunday.”

He said the key to his resurgence on the course was what he did off it, fine-tuning his game by working with short-game guru Dave Pelz and swing coach Rick Smith. What they concentrated on was playing from the fairway and being accurate from 150 yards in.

The recipe was a hit, so it bore repeating. If you look at it, the Masters changed Mickelson’s entire year at the majors. He was sometimes regarded as an afterthought, but Augusta National changed all that.

He didn’t win any of the others, but he was in the hunt each time. At the U.S. Open, Mickelson three-putted the 17th hole for a double bogey and lost to Retief Goosen. He missed getting into a playoff by one shot at the British Open, where Todd Hamilton defeated Els. At the PGA, he missed a playoff by two shots and Singh went on to win.

All the while, Mickelson’s fan base grew. His rise to greater popularity can probably be traced to the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, where Woods won but, judging from the cheers, Mickelson was the people’s choice.

Maybe it’s his loopy grin or his boyish looks or the way he acknowledges the fans when they cheer for him, but Mickelson has got the public-relations bit well rehearsed. At the Masters last year, Mickelson enjoyed the type of response from the gallery reserved for champions, something he earned the hard way, changing forever the way others look at him and also the way he perceives himself.

“I made a conscious decision at the start of the week to go out and have some fun,” he said, “and I ended up winning.”

As far as reinventions go, this wasn’t about a new wheel, but something far different for Mickelson, a whole new ballgame.

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Masters at a Glance

* What: The 69th Masters tournament.

* When: Thursday-April 10.

* Where: Augusta National Golf Club.

* Length: 7,290 yards.

* Par: 36-36 -- 72.

* Changes: There were no significant changes to the golf course for the first time since 2002.

* Format: 72 holes of stroke play, sudden-death playoff if necessary.

* Purse: To be determined ($6.29 million in 2004).

* Field: 88 professionals, four amateurs.

* Defending champion: Phil Mickelson.

* TV: Thursday-Friday, 1-3:30 p.m., USA network; Saturday, 12:30-4 p.m., Channel 2; Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Channel 2.

* Key statistic: Phil Mickelson (2004) and Gary Player (1978) are the only Masters champions to make birdie on both par-three holes on the back nine in the final round.