PHOENIX OPEN:PHIL MICKELSON is the star attraction in Phoenix this week, but the noisiest crowd in golf might well be saving its biggest cheers for the new kid on the block.
Jhonattan Vegas, the first Venezuelan to earn a PGA Tour card, has finished first and third the past two weeks and in his first round with Tiger Woods out-scored him by five.
Top of the money list with over €800,000, first on the FedEx Cup points standings and up from 187th in the world to 69th. As he says himself, “it’s been a dream come true – I’m just loving it”.
The 26-year-old even has his president, Hugo Chavez, talking excitedly about what he previously dismissed as “a bourgeois sport”.
After Vegas won the Bob Hope Classic in a play-off, Chavez said: “I am happy. He beat all the gringos. He is the pride of Venezuela – and he’s black, like Obama, just a little bit plumper.”
With a hole to play on Sunday there was still a chance that the 6ft 2in, 16st Nationwide Tour graduate would win again, but in trying for an eagle he went in the water and ran up a bogey instead.
Instead it was left-handers Bubba Watson and Mickelson who finished first and second – Mickelson after laying up short of the lake and then almost pitching in – and they are partners in the first two rounds of the Waste Management Open.
Vegas is in the group behind with fellow South Americans Camilo Villegas and Angel Cabrera.
A top-three finish on Sunday would take Mickelson ahead of Woods on the world rankings for the first time since April 1997 – the week when Woods arrived for his first major as a professional and won the US Masters by 12 shots.
Not that it would have any great significance for Mickelson because Woods is already down to third behind Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer, and Paul Casey and Steve Stricker could also overtake him while he has a week off.
Mickelson is still without a victory since Augusta last April, but he said: “I’m excited because I can tell that my game’s coming around.
“I’m kind of done making changes. I’m trying to hit shots now – I’m trying to hit draws, hooks, slices, fades and see if I can get it close.”
The Lowdown
Course:TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona.
Prize money:$6.1m (€4.4m), $1.098m (€780,000) to winner.
Length:7,216. Par: 71.
Field: 129.
Course records – 72 holes: 256 – Mark Calcavecchia (2001);
18 holes:60 – Grant Waite (1996), Mark Calcavecchia (2001), Phil Mickelson (2005).
Where to watch:Live on Sky Sports from 9pm today.
Time difference: Arizona is seven hours behind Ireland.
Course overview: While there are only three par-fives at TPC Scottsdale, the venue plays right into the hands of long-driving attacking players as the fairways are wide and generous and spots where you can encounter serious difficulty are few and far between. The track is a fairly defenceless desert layout, so the galleries are the biggest challenge for the competitors with a ridiculous number of spectators packing in. No fewer than 170,000 turned up for the Saturday of the 2008 event, with the famous par-three 16th tending to attract the biggest crowd.
Weather forecast:Clear for all four days, with the temperature increasing after a chilly start to the week. A sight breeze today but calm thereafter.
