Despite having spent part of Saturday night in the hospital sucking fluids through a tube in his arm rather than his mouth, Phil Mickelson won his first WGC title Sunday.  Having been unable to consume food for the previous three days and suffering from feverish shakes prior to his trip to the hospital seemed to have little effect on Mr. Mickelson’s game.  “I enjoy this process of competing, being in the final group, tied for the lead, against a player who is playing some terrific golf, feeling that pressure, feeling that intensity, and how important each shot is throughout the entire round,” Mickelson said. “All of that adds to helping me.”  As in helping him win.  His three under par 69 was good enough to defeat Nick Watney by a single stroke in a match that was not determined until the 18th green, where Mr. Watney’s birdie putt to tie the match was one revolution short of perfect. 

This was one of the most entertaining final rounds in a while, with the lead either tied or changed on seven different occasions.  On the par 3 9th hole Mr. Watney  hit a laser like tee shot through not only the wind but the entire green, over the hill in back of the green almost into the water down the hill even further behind the green.  Oops.  As I’m thinking "now what’, he hits his second shot into the hole for an improbable birdie.  Even Mr. Mickelson applauded that shot.  Then on the par 5 10th hole Mr. Watney ripped two perfect shots to about 10 feet and made the putt for eagle to move him to 20 under par for the tournament.  Mr. Mickelson promptly birdied the same hole to tie. 

After Mr. Watney bogeyed the 11th to hand Mr. Mickelson a one shot lead they came to the par 5 12th hole where things got even more interesting.  Mr. Mickelson hit a tee shot into the junk on the right, his ball coming to rest under shrub.  What followed was one of the more interesting discussions between caddie and golfer in a while (at least one we’ve heard on TV).  Bones MacKay stated he didn’t think it was a good idea for his boss to hit the shot right handed because who knew where the ball might go with all the obstacles in the way.  Mr. Mickelson listened, stated his intent to hit the shot right handed anyway as it was the only play and asking immediately after striking the ball "where’d it go?".  Amazingly the ball hit a palm tree and stayed in play, albeit behind a tree.  His third shot was supposed to hook, in theory, but stayed straight, straight left of the green.  “I certainly didn’t want to have to hit a right-handed shot with the lead,” Mickelson said. “I wasn’t trying to be showy. I just didn’t have a choice.”  He managed to hit on the green and two putt for bogey despite taking the scenic route to the hole.

Mr. Watney hit a perfect tee shot and had a 4 iron left to the green.  Up jumps his devil, the weak toey pulled hook into the bunker leaving a lie even the best bunker player would find challenging.  As Mr. Watney showed all day, he’s not that good from the sand and the shot he hit for his third stayed…..in the sand.  Ugh.  The second attempt at extrication left him with a 6 foot putt to tie for the lead.  Sadly he too ended up with a bogey, when it looked like he should do much better.  “I gave away two shots there,” Watney said. 

The two matched par the rest of the way. 

“I’ll get over this,” Watney said. “It’s a positive week. I played really well. Beat 78 of the best players in the world. Beat Tiger, which is always good. I’m very pleased with the way I’m playing.”    Work on the sand game please.  He hung in against the now number 2 player in the world all day, and if the sand game was better, the outcome might have been different. 

Jim Furyk shot a 31 on the back 9 to finish off a round of 67 and grab third place all alone.  Jeev Milkha Singh was alone in fourth place after a very up and down 70, his best finish ever on the PGA tour. 

Speaking of Singh, I didn’t get to see Vijay Singh at all during the tournament to see if he’s still carrying the Stanford Financial Group logo on his shirt.  Considering that Sir Allen Stanford, that groups principle is under investigation for allegedly running an $8 billion dollar Ponzi scheme I was curious on this front.  More to follow on these events and what it might mean to the Tour.