Phil Mickelson has the look of a man on a mission right now.
After shooting a five-under 66 to take the lead at the first round of the Northern Trust Open, it's clear Mickelson is already in midseason form. He’s hitting greens, sinking putts and playing with the sort of confidence that the No. 1 player in the world should play with.
The top of the leaderboard was crowded at the top before a Mickelson birdie on 18, giving him a one-shot lead heading into Friday’s Day 2 action.
Fresh off blowing Tiger Woods and the rest of the field out of the water last week at Pebble Beach, it seems Lefty is fully cognizant of the PGA's current weak state, and as long as Tiger continues to be a wreck mentally, he can be the one to take full advantage.
Sure golf is never a one-on-one sport and Mickelson is playing against the entire field, but you can’t tell me that Mickelson isn’t beaming with confidence after absolutely destroying Tiger last Sunday as his playing partner. Tied on Sunday, Mickelson ended up beating the former best closer in the sport by 11 strokes. It was a massacre.
I know not all of the world's best are involved in these early-season events, but the risks and subsequent payoffs that Mickelson has experienced this year suggests he isn’t playing around. Despite being arguably the second-best golfer for the last decade, he still has never won the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. He’s only won the PGA once. Plenty of unfinished business remains before Lefty calls it a career.
This is a year where someone like Rory McIlroy could suddenly come out of nowhere to put up a dominating performance in a major. But there is no question that the struggles of Woods make Mickelson the favorite for every major tournament in 2012.
He has fixed the problem he had with nerves years ago, he is putting at an incredibly high rate, isn’t making many mistakes, and has displayed a top notch putting game.
While I’m not saying Mickelson will have a clean sweep of the four majors in 2012, I’d be shocked if he didn’t win at least two.
