Some research published recently showed that when Tiger Woods is in a competition other players perform worse than when he is not. The suggestion is that his mere presence sows the seeds of failure in their minds. Someone who might have a thought about t… more »

Out Tucson way it ain't over till the Coyotes howl, and then some. I'm sure I wasn't alone in wondering what household chores I should be doing as Vijay Singh and Rod Pampling trudged round those extra holes in seemingly eternal stalemate. I'd picked the… more »

How Henrik Stenson is still in this thing is anyone's guess. Not only did he play the worst shot in the competition, if not the history of professional golf, on Wednesday (running it pretty close on the same 18th hole the next day), but Trevor Immelman s… more »

Wow! Wasn't that lucky! No, not Tiger Woods's recovery against J B Holmes, but the fact that his survival saves the competition from going prematurely flat. However, I throw the word in as it seems from comments I read there is a conspiracy afoot, of whi… more »

Welcome to the wacky world of match play. Or at least that is what everyone is trying to have us a believe with headlines like 'A lottery', 'Crap shoot', 'Tales of the unexpected', even 'March madness' (did I miss something?). I used to think the same, b… more »

Imagine Phil Mickelson as Tina Turner, only this time singing "What's luck got to do with it?" I know, it's a stretch, but the real question is how much he's entitled to sing it. He was, after all, extremely lucky with the weather, missing out on the w… more »

The golfing gods left Phil Mickelson to his own devices Saturday, which at least means we have the vestiges of a competition on day four. This is now widely taken to be a virtual match play, quite appropriate given next week's little shindig in Tucson.… more »

It is as if all the heavenly bodies have aligned for Phil Mickelson to win this. Maybe they had a meeting up in Heavenly HQ and decided Lefty couldn't do it by himself. Did he get the best of the weather or what? At least he acknowledges the fact. Oh a… more »

It's been 10 long years since a first-round winner went on to take the spoils at the Riviera country club - Billy Mayfair, who you will note is hovering three shots off the pace after round one. But if there's a man to follow in his footsteps it's K J Ch… more »

Tiger Woods? Who he? We should thank our lucky stars he's not in this competition so's we don't have to talk constantly about the battle for second place. As it is we have the cream from the two big tours clashing in one of the season's more up-market ev… more »

If you've ever monitored an in-play betting market or tables like the ones I produce, you might wonder who the generous souls are that lay players right down to the wire when they are clearly home and hosed. The squeals of anguish and gentle sobbing of V… more »

Saturday was a tale of two putters. Phil Mickelson went from 26 putts per round on Friday to 33 (and nearly 2 putts per green in regulation) while Vijay Singh went from 32 putts in round two to 28 on Saturday (1.6 PPG). Not hard to figure who's top of th… more »

I never had Padraig Harrington or Phil Mickelson down as shy, retiring types, but what else can explain their reluctance to join proceedings at the top of the table? Of the heavyweights in this competition, it's still down to good old Vijay Singh to grow… more »

Memo to self: Steve Elkington simply doesn't do the AT&T Pebble Beach, okay? Instead of looking at his racy start to the season and the fine set of stats it has produced, I should have been looking back over his last six Pebble Beach efforts: MC-69-M… more »

Over the last two weeks Phil Mickelson's golf has veered from the sublime to the ridiculous. A quick look at his stats suggests he's still a long way off the top of his game. But there isn't much ridiculous about the 6th and 2nd places (first in regular… more »