PHILADELPHIA — Officially, it is the U.S. Open, but it could just as easily be called the "Clash of the Titans."
With Phil Mickelson gunning for his third consecutive title in a major, and Tiger Woods returning to action after the death of his father and a nine-week layoff, this week at Winged Foot is all about the two biggest names in golf.
If Mickelson, who won the PGA Championship last August and his second Masters in April, can bag his first Open before an adoring New York crowd, he most definitely will have the hottest hand in the game.
Never mind what the World Golf Rankings say, would he dare consider himself No. 1?
Woods "is the No. 1 player in the world, and I would never question that," Mickelson said during a recent news conference. "The 10-year career that Tiger has had deserves the respect of all the players."
People are also reading…
Maybe Mickelson would not question Woods' No. 1 status — he's way too savvy to make such a boastful claim — but he would like nothing better than to set tongues wagging with just such a debate.
Don't forget that these two have been going at it since their junior golf days in Southern California, when Mickelson, who is five years older, was the man to beat. But for the last decade, it has been the other way around.
With a victory at Winged Foot, however, Mickelson would have three-quarters of the "Mickelslam" and would be halfway to a possible Grand Slam. He would deserve some No. 1 love, even if he still trails Woods in most majors won.
That's old news. The new reality is that Mickelson, who went 0 for 46 in the majors, is new and improved. He's on a 3-for-9 run since he finally scaled Mount Major at Augusta in 2004.
In keeping with his new preparation for majors, Mickelson is playing three straight weeks — in the Memorial, this past week's Barclays Classic, and the Open — with the hope of peaking at Winged Foot.
Per his new routine, he already trekked to Winged Foot three times, most recently Monday of last week, with his swing coach Rick Smith and his short-game guru Dave Pelz in tow.
"I feel like I'm starting to play well," Mickelson said during the Barclays Classic. "I feel like my game is starting to come together, and I'm getting more and more confident as time goes on."
The same cannot be said for Woods, who has not played a competitive round since the Masters.
After Augusta, where he finished tied for third, Woods spent a few days with his ailing father, Earl, then jetted off to New Zealand for the wedding of his caddie, Steve Williams.
"I kept thinking, 'Should I go? Should I not go?'" said Woods, who has been silent except for his recent monthly newsletter on his Web site. "After a lot of thought, I decided Dad was healthy enough, and he told me to go."
In New Zealand, Woods also drove in a stock-car race, which he won. He and wife Elin also went bungee jumping.
Since his father succumbed to cancer on May 3, Woods has been privately grieving. He even declined to take a call from Jack Nicklaus, who also lost his father when he was 30.
"It's been a very difficult time for our family," Woods wrote in his newsletter, thanking fans and friends for the deluge of cards and e-mails.
He finally pulled out the clubs a few weeks ago, Woods wrote, and even went to play a couple of practice rounds at Winged Foot. After one round, he got sick and went home.
In his newsletter, Woods described Winged Foot as the "hardest members' course I've ever seen," adding that it will be longer and set up much tougher for the Open than it was when Davis Love III won the PGA Championship there in 1997.
"I don't really know what to expect next week at the U.S. Open," he wrote. "I've never had to experience anything in my life like this and never had a nine-week layoff before, so we'll just have to wait and see."
