Mickelson ready for new slice of life

Phil Mickelson wore black to Tuesday’s he’s-still-alive-and-kicking (himself) news conference to mark his 2007 season debut at this week’s Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Black, as in black visor, black, short-sleeved turtleneck, black slacks, shoes and socks.

Darkness at the edge of Indio?

No.

Mickelson insisted that the mourning period that shrouded his golf game from the “I am such an idiot!” finishing hole at Winged Foot in June through his 0-4-1 record at a not-so-easy Ryder Cup, was over.

He also has emerged from a self-imposed golf exile that left him so rested his nickname should be Rusty, not Lefty.

He hasn’t played a competitive round since September and has spent his down time rethinking, retooling, relaxing and recalibrating.

Because he’s rich, he could do some of this reformulating in Italy, where he vacationed in Venice and Rome, and some of it in Bora Bora, where he renewed wedding vows with Amy, his wife of 10 years.

There was a lot in life, at 36, to consider.

It would seem almost impossible to mess up a 2006 season that included winning the Masters, his third major title in three years, but Mickelson did it.

“Dealing with failure is part of the game,” Mickelson explained. “I deal with it 90% of the time.”

One wayward drive on the 72nd hole at the U.S. Open, where Mickelson needed par to win but ended up with a double bogey and lost, turned last year from a Phil season to a Tiger Woods season.

Mickelson capped it all by scoring a measly half-point during the United States’ drubbing by the Europeans at the Ryder Cup in Ireland.

“Those two events were what made 2006 a disappointing year,” Mickelson said.

He decided that his golf game, good as it was compared to most, couldn’t sit still, and came to two conclusions: He needed to straighten his tee shots and flatten his stomach.

Mickelson went on a fitness rampage. He lost more than 20 pounds and then added “10 to 15” pounds of muscle to his frame. He did cardio workouts five or six days a week, working in some martial arts.

“I don’t feel like I stood up physically throughout the nine months,” he said.

Mickelson also thought fitness would become more important with this year’s creation of the FedEx Cup, a NASCAR-like points system that will lead to a four-tournament playoff at season’s end.

His swing was another issue.

The drive on No. 18 at Winged Foot, the “controlled” baby slice that went out of control and hit a tent, which led to another slice that hit a tree, which led to the double bogey that cost him the U.S. Open, is now seen as an epiphany.

It was as if the golf gods had seen enough.

“I really believe that the past former presidents of the USGA that passed away were looking down and said, ‘No one should win the Open hitting two of 14 fairways,’ ” Mickelson joked.

He went to work with coaches Rick Smith and Dave Pelz to, as Mickelson described it, “... eliminate that left shot that has crept in my game after starting my career having ... a hook be the problem.”

Mickelson tinkered with equipment, adding more heel weight to his driver.

He played very few rounds in the off-months, three or four, he guessed.

“I spent more time developing a game plan,” Mickelson said. “It’s pointless for me to go out and hit balls unless I’ve got a game plan of what it is I’m trying to do.”

The funny part is that all of this probably would not have happened, had Mickelson found the fairway with one shot at the U.S. Open.

“I probably wouldn’t address them, no,” he said of his swing issues. “Because I won the tournament.”

But it didn’t end that way. Geoff Ogilvy won and Mickelson, instead of surging toward player-of-the-year honors with the first two legs of a Grand Slam, slipped back a peg.

Woods, winner of his last six PGA Tour events, including the British Open and the PGA Championship, was the player of the year and seemingly has a death-grip hold on the No. 1 ranking.

Mickelson has fallen from second to fourth in the world rankings, but his competitive fire has not been doused.

He wants to get back to where he was on the tee box at No. 18, last June, back within firing range of Woods.

“It was fun,” Mickelson said of those days. “It was fun and I certainly want to get back to that level where I’m able to compete in each tournament, compete against Tiger week-in and week-out. But again, it’s not easy. He’s a remarkable player.”

Woods is not playing this week, delaying his 2007 debut until next week’s Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines.

The Hope, though, marks Mickelson’s new beginning. He has revamped his body, his swing, and his schedule. He’ll play in four tournaments, then skip the Nissan Open at Riviera. And in a switch, he said he wouldn’t play the week before the Masters or U.S. Open.

It’s a new year and a new Phil.

“I’m looking in those first three or four weeks to see if the changes I’ve made in the off-season have made a significant, positive result,” he said.

All Mickelson has to do now is go out and play.

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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Not a bad year

Phil Mickelson has five consecutive finishes in the top 12 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and tied for fifth last year. He won the event in 2004 and 2002. A look at Mickelson’s 2006 season, which included winning the Masters, his third major title in three years:

* Events...18

* Cuts...17

* Top 10...8

* Top 25...14

* Wins...2

* Rounds...69

* Earnings...$4,256,505 (6th)

2002 HOPE CLASSIC

* Four shots down going into the final round, Mickelson rallied Sunday to beat David Berganio Jr. in a sudden-death playoff.

2004 HOPE CLASSIC

* Mickelson won again in a playoff, this time beating Skip Kendall for the $810,000 first-place check.

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Source: www.bbhc.com