Mickelson out to solve TPC puzzle

GOLF / US Tour / Players Championship: Until he managed to break his duck a couple of years ago, one of the great mysteries of golfing life was just why Phil Mickelson had never managed to win a major.

Now, as a two-time major winner, one of the remaining mysteries of Mickelson's career statistics is why he has never won the Players Championship. After all, with his mix of power and deftness, this is a course that should suit him down to the ground.

For Mickelson, though, cracking the TPC at Sawgrass has proven to be a more difficult task than understanding quantum physics. In 12 previous visits, he has missed the cut on four occasions and only managed two top-10 finishes.

His best ever finish was tied-third in 2004, which only serves to add to mystery of why things go wrong more often than they go right.

"I think the course is a course that doesn't favour any one style of play. I think that when the rough was added and made so thick around the greens, that gave an advantage to the player that kept it a little bit shorter and a little bit straighter. But, because the greens are so small and tough to hit, there's an advantage to a guy who can hit it a little bit longer . . . whoever is playing well is the guy that has the advantage," said Mickelson.

Mickelson is not alone of the so-called big guns who has misfired at Sawgrass.

"Why myself or Ernie (Els) or Vijay (Singh) or Retief (Goosen) haven't played well or haven't won this tournament, it's hard to say because we have all had decent chances.

"I haven't had as many chances here as I would have liked or would have thought . . . I just don't know why we haven't put it together."

So far this season, Mickelson has failed to add to this list of victories although four top-10s in six starts would indicate that things aren't quite that bad. Even so, Mickelson felt that the best use of his time for the past two weeks away from tournament play was to work on his game with short-game coach Dave Pelz.

"Things are starting to come around. Looking back on the start (to the season), I wasn't controlling my misses and shots the way I wanted to . . . (and) I wasn't chipping the ball as close as I need to. So I spent some quality time on trying to address those needs.

"We focused in on the areas that looked a little deficient. We spent a lot of time on bunker play, the worst part of my game at the beginning of the year.

"We spent a lot of time on the greens, finding ways to practice short irons and so forth. It's one thing to practice a lot or to hit a lot of golf balls, (but) it is another to actually carry it over into tournament play on the course. That's what we've been working on."

Having taken time out from tournament play, Mickelson starts a three-week stint on the road that takes in the Players, the BellSouth and the US Masters with a desire to finally work out what it takes to conquer this course.

"Certainly the depth of the field makes it a very difficult tournament to win. It is probably a credit to what a deep field this is and how deep the tour is as far as quality of play."

This is the last year that the Players will occupy what has been its traditional date in March. From next year, the tournament - which has an $8 million purse - will move to a new spot in the calendar in May, aimed at trying to win it elevation to that of a major.

The plan is that the Players will occupy a spot in a seemingly seamless sequence that stretches from the Masters in April through to the US Open in June, the British Open in July and the US PGA in August.

Mickelson, who won his first major in the Masters in 2004 and followed up by adding the US PGA title last year, remarked of the change in dates: "I think moving this tournament will help the quality . . . because, right now, we look at it as maybe a great tournament to get ready for the Masters. When it is on its own, we're going to have our five biggest events spread out each month."

This may not be a major - yet - but it is as much of a challenge to Mickelson as winning one of the two majors, the US Open and the British Open, that have eluded him.