Newsday (N.Y.): Mickelson had it going, then finished poorly

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Phil Mickelson, who had a chance to overtake Tiger Woods as No. 1 in the world rankings, will not. He did shoot 70 Saturday, but that left him at 2-under-par 214.

"I'm disappointed in myself,'' Mickelson said, "because I let a good round slide. I putted great [he briefly was 4 under] and then I made those bad swings on 16 [double-bogey 6] and 17 and played them 3 over par.''

On 16, trying to play safe off the tee with a 5-iron, he hooked it so badly the ball hit the road that runs along the right side of the hole and bounced into the big, grassy area that's home to concession stands, the merchandise tent. It was miles out of bounds.

Pants on fire

There was an interesting remark from Henrik Stenson about the weather. "The wind,'' he said, "feels like it's trying to rip your pants off, and that's no good.''

Stenson, of course, is the Swedish pro who stripped down to his underwear before wading into a water hazard to play a shot in the 2009 WGC-CA Championship at Doral. Entering the third round at 2 under, Stenson, his pants on, shot a 5-under 67 to move into a tie for fourth at 7 under.

Casey at the bat

A year after a rib muscle forced him to miss three months of the season, Paul Casey is in contention to become the first Englishman to win the British Open since 1992. His 67 put him within four strokes of Louis Oosthuizen. "Sitting here right now, I'm ecstatic," Casey said. "You know, even right now, occasionally I feel the muscles in the ribs. In no way do they affect my golf. But it's a small reminder that quite often you take for granted a lot of things, and nothing is better than an Open Championship at the home of golf."

Chip shots

John Daly's trousers were the wildest of the week, a red-and-black stripe variation of a Cincinnati Bengals helmet pattern; he had a 74 for even-par 216 after starting with a 66 Thursday . . . Rory McIlroy, who led the fist day with a 63, then shot 80, rallied for a 69, despite a double-bogey 6 on 17 the Road Hole . . . Mark Calcavecchia started the day in second place at 7 under, but he began bogey, bogey, and then took a 9 on the par-5 fifth hole that included two penalty shots. But after a 43 on the front nine, Calcavecchia had a 34 on the back for a 77 and 2-under 214.

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CBSSports.com: For Calc, a chance to help promise be a bit less unfulfilled

By Art Spander
The Sports Xchange/CBSSports.comTURNBERRY, Scotland -- There's a painful humor in the words of Mark Calcavecchia, who likes to talk about the way he has downed pints as compared to the way he has holed putts.

"I'm working on St. Mungo this week," he cracked about a lager brewed in Glasgow. "It's pretty good stuff."

So too is Calcavecchia, a bit overweight, a bit unappreciated. He's good stuff. He should have been better.

He definitely doesn't take himself seriously but deep down knows how successful he could have been if indeed he had done just that a little more often.

It isn't as if the career has been a bust. There is that major championship, a British Open at Troon, about 20 miles and exactly 20 years from the testy one now going on at Turnberry. Yet Calc, as he's always called, when requested to look back, does it with more than a twinge of regret.

Calcavecchia shot a 1-under 69 Friday in the second round of the 138th Open, giving him a 36-hole total of 4-under 136, one shot behind co-leaders Steve Marino and Tom Watson. And so Calc faced the unavoidable questions of whether he could win and whether during his 27 years on tour he should have won more.

There was a hesitant yes to the first question, because Calc's quite acceptable controlled ego wouldn't allow him anything more, and a less hesitant yes to the second.

Golf tempers a person's outlook. A botched bunker shot is never far away, even for a pro. But it doesn't change intent. Or actuality.

Some may wonder what Calc is doing up there in third of the same major in which Tiger Woods -- Calcavecchia's frequent practice-round partner -- was going to miss the cut. A more legitimate query is why Calc never placed himself up there in Hall of Fame consideration, even though he insists that sort of acknowledgment is unimportant.

Asked point blank whether he indeed could win the Open, Calc hemmed and hawed, talking of his downs and ups throughout the seasons and then agreed, "Yeah, I think I can win. If not this week, then maybe somewhere later on this year down the road."

Then came the more poignant query, one that from some people might have brought an angry growl: Does Mark Calcavecchia believe that through the years he has underachieved?

"Yeah," he said. "There's no question I should have won at least 20 tournaments." He's won 13.

"I've had, what, 27 seconds, and another 25 thirds or something. [It's 17 thirds]. I think only [Greg] Norman has more seconds. I probably gave 10 of those away, and the rest I made good rallies to finish second.

"But I could have won a Masters. Sandy Lyle [in 1988] hit the shot of his life out a fairway bunker, but who knows, maybe I wouldn't have won this tournament the next year. But I would have thought I would have won a Masters at some point, and that's clearly not going to happen. But that's OK."

A fascinating leaderboard halfway through the Open: Marino, 29, who not only never had won on tour but never had played a links course or, obviously, the Open, until this week; 59-year-old Tom Watson; and 49-year-old Mark Calcavecchia.

"I watched TV this morning," said Calc, who had an 11:41 a.m. British time start, "so I kind of knew what some of the holes were playing like on the front nine. And I saw the wind -- there was no wind [Thursday] -- was going in the opposite direction it had been on Tuesday."

After a quiet, almost embracing opening round 24 hours earlier, when the air was still, the sun shining and 50 players broke par, Friday came up wet and wild, genuine British Open weather.

"At any rate, I knew the front nine was going to play hard," said Calc, confirming many of the opening holes would be into the teeth of the north wind. "I saw the scores, and I just wanted to stay away from big numbers, which a lot of guys were making out there, doubles, triples and quads and whatever. A few bogeys here and there weren't going to kill me."

He did bogey the second and fifth holes, which parallel the coastline of the Firth of Clyde, but then he birdied seven, 10, 12 and 14, stumbling only with a bogey on the 206-yard par-3 15th.

"When we turned around on the back nine, I thought I could probably shoot a decent score," said Calc, cognizant Turnberry, as so many links courses, goes out in one direction and then turns toward home, with a diversion or two. "I'm real happy with the way things have gone. I've been getting some good bounces, getting lucky on occasion, which always helps."

Some of the younger American players described Calcavecchia as some sort of unofficial team leader because of his many years playing golf in general and the Open specifically. He sloughed it off with the expected self-deprecation.

"I would never think I'm the type of guy anybody could learn anything from, to tell the truth," Calc remarked. "I think experience is way overrated. All that means is I've hit more bad shots than all the guys that are 20 years old, and they're lingering in my brain."

Along with the good pints. "I'm allowing myself four," he smirked. "Seems to be a good, round figure."

That from a man with a good, round figure.

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