I'm not sure if you noticed, but Monday was a cold, cold day in Charlottesville. I'm talking stick-your-tongue-to-a-mailbox, make-snowballs-between-class freezing. Not only that, but one of my friends swears he saw a pig flying loops in the air around the Rotunda.
If you weren't tuned in to ESPN earlier this week, you might have missed the surest sign in a while that hell has indeed frozen over. Phil Mickelson, the man who has held the title of 'Second-Best Golfer in the world' longer than he probably cares to remember, was paired with Tiger Woods in the final day of a golf tournament and won. That's right, the same sad-eyed left-hander who seems to need the Heimlich maneuver whenever he's around felines actually out-dueled the world's most ferocious golfer head-to-head for the first time ever. No choking, no hitting the ball into the woods and no nervous breakdowns.
While there's no way that anyone can call Mickelson a slouch (he's third in the current world golf standings and hauls in about $20 million a year), his record as one of the only regular challengers to Woods has been, in his words, pathetic. Although he has been paired with Tiger in the final round of a PGA tournament five times, Mickelson has never finished strong enough to win the whole thing, allowing Woods to take home the trophy on three occasions.
Although Mickelson has won a few majors -- the Masters in 2004 and 2006 and the PGA Championship in 2005 -- none have forced him to see red alongside Tiger on Sundays and come out alive. Add that to the fact that Woods is the only golfer ranked higher than Mickelson on the PGA money list, cashing in a whopping $80 million in tournament winnings and endorsements last year, and it's no wonder Phil's nerves can resemble Silly Putty on occasion. Did I mention Woods also has a beautiful wife?
At the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston, Mickelson seemed to block all this out for once, sinking putt after putt down the stretch while Woods seemed to lose his "Tiger Vision" focus. In an almost unheard-of show of toughness, Mickelson even withstood a late Tiger charge, birdieing two of the last five holes while the world's most recognizable Buick pitchman breathed down his neck.
In the end, Mickelson found himself kissing a sweet (but extremely ugly) trophy and his sweet (and decidedly less ugly) wife after beating Woods by two strokes and signing off on a 5-under-par 66 for the day. This came at the end of a week during which he played golf with former president George H.W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine and watched Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz throw a no-hitter in front of a delirious crowd at Fenway Park. Top that off by taming the Tiger, and I'd say that's a pretty good few days. He might even want to buy a lottery ticket or 12.
The bigger picture here is that we might actually have a renewed rivalry on our hands. Like Bird and Magic in basketball, McGwire and Sosa in baseball (Congressional hearings notwithstanding) and the Redskins and Cowboys in football, everyone likes their superstars to have to flex a little muscle every once in a while against a familiar face. Why not root for a little spice in a sport with Polos and "Quiet Please" signs?
"All year, we've been talking about how the excitement level has been kind of dead," Woods told reporters Monday night. "It's nice to see some atmosphere out there. It was fun for both of us, it was fun for the gallery and it was probably great for the tournament."
Mickelson's sights are already set on a bigger stage -- he wants to go head-to-head with Tiger again at a major tournament next year. While most viewers would salivate at the pairing, TV networks and tournament promoters are hoping that any future matchup of the sport's two heavyweights will be free of Mickelson's notoriously bone-headed mistakes and frequent bouts of flop sweat.
Judging by this week's results, that might actually be possible.
Here in Charlottesville, where the temperature has returned to a seasonably sticky 90 degrees, I can only hope that Mickelson doesn't make a habit out of this bravery in the face of Tiger. With football, soccer and baseball on my schedule, there's no room for golf should it become interesting again. Also, that flying pig has been knocking my satellite dish off the roof.
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