The Year of Phil Mickelson

This is the dawning of the year of Phil Mickelson, year of Phil Mickelson...

After taking it yet again in the ass from Tiger at the Doral, Phil was pissed. He was no longer mister nice guy. No longer the “aw shucks” I can’t believe I missed that short putt to take the lead. He was hacked. He went on air and led off with an obscenity. Well, if you can call “pissed” a swear word.

But there was Phil. Pissed off at himself. No more calling Woods out for anything. No blaming any bad shots on anybody but himself. You know what else? He didn’t back off of Tiger’s challenge. He did not wilt under pressure. He answered nearly every challenge. If not for that one putt on 16, he would have beaten Tiger.

"I enjoyed and loved playing head-to-head against Tiger at his best," said Mickelson after he had calmed down after the Doral. " It was great fun. I just don't like the result. ... I want to be head-to-head against him again."

Now I'm going to do something guaranteed to piss off Harper: Compare Tiger Woods to the Yankees.

For decades, everybody was saying that the Yankees were in the Red Sox's heads. And for decades, they were. But then, one year, last year, the Sox said enough. They kicked the Yankees out of their heads with a combination of bravado, determination, resilience, and sheer idiocy (not to mention a few shots of Jack Daniels). That’s right. Tiger is the Yankees. Phil is the Red Sox (calm down, I’m not bringing the Nation into this discussion. We all know that the Mickelson Nation is no where near the status of Red Sox Nation).

Phil’s past bravado has been his attempts to get into Tiger’s head. It hasn’t worked yet, but Tiger has been put on notice. Yes, he was all smiles and said the right things after the match, but Tiger noticed.

What is my point? This is Phil’s year. Last year, Vijay got tired of playing second banana to Tiger, and most any other golfer. He got serious and started kicking butt. This year, I don’t believe Phil is just spouting off for the sake of spouting off. He believes it. It’s his year.

It’s his year to take down Tiger—and it’s gonna happen at one of the majors.

Either that, or he's going to take him out like Tanya Harding did to Nancy Kerrigan.