A More Emotional, Vulnerable Mickelson Returns to PGA Tour

He just needs a few hours a day to break away from the anguish, to think about hitting a little ball, bending its flight the way he needs for it to get in the hole. It's the way Phil Mickelson has dealt with things his whole life.

That's why he came to Memphis this week, returning to the PGA Tour after a three-week break to be with his wife, Amy, who was diagnosed with breast cancer.

"We're going through a tough time right now," he said Wednesday at his pre-tournament press conference. "We won't get started on our treatment till July 1st. And in the meantime, we're fortunate that we believe we caught it early enough to where we don't have to rush into decisions, that we can make some good long-term decisions."

And that was the best overuse of the word "we" that you'll ever hear. Mickelson was emotional Wednesday, fought back tears, thanked everyone for kind words. But how strange it must be to have to take such a personal issue into a press conference.

Most of us can get away from things by playing golf, but Mickelson cannot. Everyone in Memphis who sees him will be thinking of Amy, the networks will be talking about her, fans will be whispering, and reporters will be asking questions.

"The last three weeks have been, um ... Kind of an interesting thing is I've never felt this emotional, where if I'm driving along or what have you, I'll just start crying," he said. "It's kind of a weird thing. I'm looking forward to having a four- or five-hour mental break, where I force myself to focus on something else.

"Ever since I was a little kid, the way I would deal with things would be to go chip in my back yard or, when I could drive, go to the course and hit a few balls."

He said he didn't know how prepared he would be, how focused. But if we're talking golf here, I predict that Mickelson will do well in Memphis, and then will contend next week at the U.S. Open.

These personal challenges always seem to make athletes so much more real. So far this year, Mickelson has been the story of goofy clothes, white belts and his usual spot as the foil for Tiger Woods.

The problem with Mickelson is that his brain and focus can get in the way. I mean, too much thinking does him in.

You wonder how much fight he'll have these next few weeks, but I think what he'll find is that swinging the club, hitting the ball are things he does best, especially when the pressures of golf and tournaments are not center on his mind.

But if his mind is off those pressures for four or five hours a round, it won't be possible to get away from Amy's cancer. Not when you live your life in public.



When he arrived at the club Wednesday, several hundred fans waited for him for autographs. Some fans wore pink shirts in support of Amy, according to the Associated Press.

Mickelson avoided the crowd. But he started his practice round by hitting a driver into the water, and then the next one into the sand. On the next hole, a tournament tradition, as reported by the AP, hit home for Mickelson.

"I can't shake hands," one girl on crutches said to him.

"Well, you have a very strong hug," he said back, leaning in. Patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital caddie for the pros on this hole.

So Mickelson met Michael Anderson, 27, coming off his fourth surgery for a brain tumor. Several children, most of them losing their hair, surrounded him. Mickelson gave each one a golf ball and glove.

And then Anderson caddied for Mickelson on the hole, even asking about Amy.

Mickelson said they caught the cancer early enough, he thinks, to be make careful decisions from here. Amy will have surgery in the first week of July.

Phil and Amy have been much more of a public couple than most. She is always there, supporting him. Once, it seemed galling to see him under the big tree of the 18th green at Augusta just after losing, there with Amy, smiling.

I was at Pinehurst for the U.S. Open in 1999, when Amy was pregnant with their first child. Mickelson was already catching heat for never having won a major. And it was one of the best signs of who Mickelson is when he talked about what would happen if the beeper went off and Amy went into labor.

"I figure I'll be about five hours and 15 minutes from the time I get the beep to the time I arrive at the hospital," he said. "It's about four hours and 45 minutes, probably, flying back ... and probably 20 minutes for me to get in the air.

"I've got a plane standing by and, as you know, I'm a pilot."

He was going to go home. Sunday. Nine holes to go. U.S. Open lead.

Beep, beep? Good-bye Phil.

He kept insisting that the doctors said it would be a few weeks. He nearly won that week, but lost on the final two holes. The next day, their first child was born.

Every good moment, every bad one. Every celebration and every scare. We all have many of these same ups and downs.

Phil Mickelson has them right there, for all of us to see.