Word on the street has Tiger Woods making his triumphant return to the PGA Tour as soon as February, which must've been wonderful news for arch-nemesis Phil Mickelson. No, seriously. You see, the world's No. 3 player admits that he pines for those halcyon days of watching Woods blow away an entire field while everybody watched on helplessly.
"The entire golf world cannot wait for his return. I miss him as a player. I miss him as a person. And I miss trying to track him down because that is always a great challenge."
Lefty does admit that he blew a great opportunity to make up ground on the hobbled Woods last season, and has spent much of the winter trying to rectify his putting woes. I blame his short-game coach and resident egghead, Dave Pelz. Honestly, Philbert doesn't need fancy-pants gadgets, he needs to quit doing stuff like this. I'm pretty sure there isn't a golf robot on the planet that can fix Lefty's above-the-neck issues.
Whatever, Mickelson could still make a dent in Tiger's lead early next year. Despite Mark O'Meara's proclamations, it's not clear when Woods will actually return, and even when he does, you'd have to expect him to be rusty. I know, this is Tiger we're talking about, but between caddying and building golf courses, there hasn't been a lot of time for working on his game.
Which means we should only expect him to win one major in 2009. And definitely no more than two.
Phil Mickelson Really Misses Tiger Woods, Eagerly Awaits His Return originally appeared on Golf FanHouse on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.