The Mickelson-Woods Rivalry Is Starting To Heat Up

A little over a month ago, I commented on Phil "FIGJAM" Mickelson hiring Tiger Woods' former hitting coach, Butch Harmon, and subsequently winning The Players Championship. At that time, it seemed like a friendly rivalry was being born, but Harmon's latest comments have added some HGH to this baby. With reference to Mickelson taking the #1 world ranking away from Tiger, Harmon had this to say:

"Tiger's got a big lead as No. 1 in the world so it'll take a couple of years but I think he can and I think he will actually," said Harmon, 63, hired by Mickelson a few months ago to re-do the southpaw's swing.

Not to belittle Mickelson's accomplishments, but Harmon, better than anyone, has to know how much Tiger has dominated the #1 world ranking spot. As of right now, he's been ranked #1 for a total of 446 weeks, and his current streak at #1 started back on June 12, 2005. Since turning pro in 1996, he has finished the year ranked #1 eight times, Greg Norman('96 & '97) and Vijay Singh('04) are the only other golfers to finish ranked #1 turning that span.

While it is nice for Harmon to voice his full support for Mickelson, it does seem rather unlikely that he will be the golfer to overtake the #1 ranking from Tiger. Harmon said that he believes it will take years, but Mickelson is currently 36(5 years older than Tiger) and he's not getting any younger. Eventhough I find it doubtful that Mickelson will be able to move up to #1 and finish the year there, it does add one more element to the Mickelson-Woods rivalry heading into the U.S. Open next weekend.

FIGJAM Uses Tiger's Old Coach To Whoop Him

Last month, Phil "FIGJAM" Mickelson announced that he was switching hitting coaches, and going with Butch Harmon, former teacher of Greg Norman & Tiger Woods, instead of his longtime coach and friend, Rick Smith.

Of course one of the biggest questions following the switch was whether or not it would help Mickelson beat Tiger. When I heard of the switch I had a feeling that Mickelson would find great joy in beating Tiger after taking pointers from his old hitting coach, and yesterday Phil seemed to be full of joy. Though, winning $1.62 million will tend to do that to you.

Yes, the switch has seemed to pay off, at least in the immediate results. Yesterday Mickelson won The Players Championship by two-strokes, and moved up to the #2 ranking in the world.

Tiger finished #37, and won $38,700. That's 36 places and $1,581,300 behind Mickelson.

Obviously it's still too early to tell if Mickelson will really be able to beat Tiger with any consistency, especially since Woods doesn't typically play well at the TPC at Sawgrass. However, it certainly adds another storyline to the U.S. Open that will be teeing off in three weeks.