'Lefty' aiming to make right impression

Phil MickelsonGeorge Kimball talks to the reigning US Masters champion who appears, under the captaincy of Tom Lehman, determined to be part of a winning team at the K Club

He claims not to have been the one who suggested the format, but roping Phil Mickelson into a short-game gangsome with everybody hitting to soft greens and cash on the line had to be a bit like throwing Brer Rabbit in the briar patch.

"Hey, there was no money involved," insisted Mickelson with mock solemnity. "Gambling is illegal at Bushwood. This was just for funsies."

With the wind gusting and the rain drizzling at the K Club, Mickelson and his US team-mates went out en masse on the front nine yesterday in what was ostensibly an exercise to hone their alternate-shot skills for tomorrow's foursomes play.

Mickelson was initially paired with his likely Ryder Cup playing partner Chris DiMarco, "but we were basically playing a twelvsome," said 'Lefty'. "Things got shuffled around a lot."

With a hurricane wagging its tail across County Kildare, it was one of those days when nobody felt much like playing golf, but as did their European counterparts, the Americans felt a certain obligation to the spectators who had braved the foul elements.

Beginning on the first fairway, they each dropped balls 150 yards out and played in from there.

"A regular practice round wouldn't have done our games much good, and it wouldn't have been much fun to watch, either," said Mickelson. "You get these strong crosswinds and the balls could be blowing 50, 60 yards offline. We thought it would be better, and more entertaining to the gallery, to have fun with us rather than to have all of us struggling through a difficult day."

When he tees it up tomorrow Lefty will be playing in his sixth Ryder Cup. He has won two of his three majors since the last one, and almost certainly should have won at least one more.

Since Mickelson made a dog's dinner of the 18th hole at Winged Foot and frittered away the 2006 US Open, the impression has been created that he's been off licking his wounds somewhere, but, he pointed out yesterday, his recent schedule wasn't a great departure from his normal summertime modus operandus.

"I normally don't play too much during the summer. I usually play the three majors and one other tournament in that span," he said. "I didn't feel like I played poorly in the British Open (where he tied for 22nd) - at least for me. It hasn't been my best event.

"I had higher expectations for the PGA (where, as defending champion, he finished 16th), but I don't feel like it was poor play.

"I just felt like I didn't click." He tied for 54th in his last outing, a month ago in the WGC Bridgestone at Akron ("I don't really have a good reason or excuse") and hasn't played since.

"The biggest thing for me is that I'm fresh and excited to play. That's why I took some time off and started practising for the Ryder Cup."

Two years ago at Oakland Hills, Mickelson comprised one half of what was advertised as a "Dream Team" (with Tiger Woods) that was quickly reduced to an embarrassing nightmare. The two top Americans were supposed to set the Europeans back on their heels by scoring a quick, first-round knockdown, but before the first day was over Woods and Mickelson had lost both their fourball match (to Harrington and Montgomerie) and their afternoon foursomes (to Clarke and Westwood). By Saturday morning Hal Sutton had banished Mickelson to the bench, designating him a "cheerleader".

"We wanted to play together," recalled Mickelson of his oil-andwater pairing with Woods. "We wanted to try it. We just didn't play well. We thought we were going to come out and get some points and lead (the US) on, but it didn't turn out that way. But you learn by trial and error . . . That wasn't the only tough day on the golf course I've had. "

Mickelson seems comfortable under the command of the man he respectfully calls "Captain Lehman." He also seems more comfortable with his choice of playing partners this time around. It would be a shock if Mickelson weren't paired with DiMarco in both fourball and in foursomes play tomorrow when the official first-round pairings are announced this afternoon.

Mickelson first visited Ireland for the 1991 Walker Cup and his appearance was memorable for at least two reasons: One was that the 21-year-old amateur mesmerised the Portmarnock galleries with his ability to play his patented flop shots to links greens and stop the ball on a dime. The other was his well-chronicled remark, after sending a wayward shot into the crowd: "That's not a place I wanted to hit it. The Irish women are not that attractive."

Presumably Lefty's opinion has changed in the past 15 years. "I married an Irish girl," laughed the husband of the former Amy McBride. "Obviously, it has."