Fan gets Mickelson and more

Phil Mickelson had tickets to the Super Bowl and he was in the Phoenix area for the PGA Tour’s FBR Open on Sunday, but he decided earlier in the day that he wasn’t going to go to the big game.

So what did he do with his tickets? He gave them to a pair of fans who had been following his round, according to the Arizona Republic.

Drew Fockler, 11, who had asked Mickelson for his autograph before the round, told the Republic that Mickelson’s caddie, Jim McKay, approached him near the third tee and asked whether he liked football.

McKay then unzipped one of the pockets on the golf bag he was carrying and handed Fockler two tickets.

“I came expecting to watch Phil play golf and I ended up getting his tickets to the Super Bowl,” Fockler said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

Mickelson, who later lost a playoff with J.B. Holmes and finished second in the FBR Open, said he preferred to spend a quiet afternoon with family members.

“I thought it would be fun to give it to a father-son,” he said. “I cherish the time I have with each one of my kids, and I thought it would be a cool experience for them.”

Trivia time

Mickelson’s playoff loss drops his career playoff record to 7-3, though he has lost his last two. When and where was his last loss?

Tuned out

The Super Bowl drew a record television audience of about 97.5 million, making it the most watched Super Bowl in history -- no thanks to KFTA TV.

The Fox affiliate in northwest Arkansas lost its feed Sunday, causing thousands of viewers to miss the first half. The signal was restored at halftime, but it left football fans disappointed.

“You’re looking at the Super Bowl game, the one game all year that pretty much every American watches, and what am I doing? I’m going to the Internet to check the score online,” resident Tim Fryer told KHBS TV.

Somebody’s watching Yao

Those ratings may have been impressive, but nearly twice as many people were watching the NBA game between the Houston Rockets and Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.

Say what? The Rockets (28-20) are fourth in the Southwest Division and the Bucks (18-30) are last in the Central.

But that didn’t stop more than 200 million viewers in China from tuning in to watch Yao Ming face countryman Yi Jianlian, two of the country’s most celebrated athletes who were going head to head for the second time.

“I look at it almost as the Chinese Super Bowl,” Bucks Coach Larry Krystkowiak said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Bushy tailed

The ending of Super Bowl XLII was so compelling, President Bush stayed up past his bedtime to watch the ending.

The Associated Press reported that Bush stayed tuned in until the end and that the finish just after 10 p.m. EST was “later than Bush normally stays up.”

The president phoned Giants co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch, Coach Tom Coughlin and quarterback Eli Manning on Monday, though it took a while for him to connect with them all, according to White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.

He wanted to be sure to “congratulate them on their historic victory,” Perino said.

Re-Joyce

Coming soon to the Psychic Friends Network: Dr. Joyce Brothers.

The syndicated advice columnist was among 100 celebrities and sports stars asked to put their Super Bowl predictions in print for the Scripps Howard News service.

Thirty-seven of them picked the Giants, but Brothers came closest to the final score. “Giants, 17-10,” she said. “I believe the Giants are going to win. I haven’t paid that much attention this year.”

Trivia answer

Mickelson lost to Charles Howell III in 2007 on the third playoff hole in the Nissan Open (now the Northern Trust Open) at Riviera Country Club.

And finally

“Today” show host Meredith Vieira wondered aloud during the telecast Monday morning if the victor indeed gets the spoils.

“Is it true that Gisele left with Eli?” she said.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com