Mickelson Beats Tiger

“For the last 10 years, I worked hard to beat Tiger Woods. I feel great. I’ve wanted to beat him in a major match.” Phil Mickelson (U.S.) seemed to be happier with the fact that he beat Tiger Woods than he did with winning the championship. He has been head-to-head with Tiger Woods a total of five times starting from the 1997 Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) championship up until the final round of the 2005 Ford Championship. He had not been able to win a single time. On the other hand, Woods won the three games he played against Mickelson, including the 2001 Masters and the 2003 Buick International.

Mickelson had the final laugh at the fourth round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, which took place at the Boston TPC (par: 71) in the U.S. on Tuesday and is also the second round of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup Playoff.

Mickelson lowered his score by five stokes, coming from behind to beat Tiger Woods by two strokes. His final score was 16-under par, 268 strokes. He received $1.26 million for his third win this season.

After this win, Mickelson sits in first place for the $10 million FedEx Cup Point award while Woods is in third. Choi Kyung-joo, who withdrew from the tournament after finishing the first round due to back pain, is down two spots in fourth.

Mickelson and Woods make an interesting pair. Mickelson’s current coach is Butch Harmon, who was fired as Woods’ coach. They were in the same group in three rounds during the tournament. Mickelson only putted 23 times, while Woods putted 32 times and improved his driver accuracy for this season from 50 percent to 76.8 percent.

“Towards the end of the match, I realized how to handle the pressure. Harmon has told me that I have the best swing when I am competing against the best,” replied Mickelson when asked if he figured out how he should beat Woods.

Mickelson, who is strongly devoted to his family, said he would not take part in this week’s BMW championships because he has to tend to his family. Only the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup Point list can participate.

kjs0123@donga.com