“About eight weeks ago, about five days before the US Open I woke up and had some intense pain in some areas of my body, some joints and tendons and so forth. I couldn’t walk. I ended up going and seeing a doctor and I ended up going back to the Mayo Clinic right after the British Open to get a second opinion.”
“I have this thing called psoriatic arthritis where your immune system attacks your joints and tendons and so forth. It is very treatable and the medicine I’ve been taking has been very helpful.”
“Everything is fine now. I have been starting treatment and things have been great.”
“Long term there shouldn’t be any issues.”
~Phil Mickelson
Apparently Phil has been battling a form of arthritis which made him barely able to get out of bed.
This is quite a surprise. I’m glad to hear this condition is treatable and Phil is doing okay.
My fellow golf blogger (who also qualifies as a golf writer) has a fun read on Tiger Woods’ post round comments today at the 3rd round of the Bridgestone Invitational. After a round of 75 where he mentally threw in the towel, Tiger told the press to “go talk to the leaders.”
Pop over to Jay’s blog to read more.
It is sort of interesting that the Bridgestone is a no-cut event. TW could have gone home already with a missed cut in a normal event, but has to endure the misery of not playing golf up to the level he or anyone else expects from him for this weekend. Obviously the pending divorce, which he isn’t talking about, is weighing heavily on his game.
Meanwhile Bubba Watson is looking good at the beginning of the round and has the lead. Phil Mickelson is one stroke back, smelling a #1 world ranking.
Tiger Woods is in jeopardy of losing his number one ranking at this week’s Bridgestone Invitational. Both Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson had the chance to overtake Tiger coming into this weekend if TW, but Westwood has withdrawn with that same nagging leg injury he’s had for a few weeks. He will not be playing in next week’s PGA Championship either. Speculation is that he’s resting up the leg for the Ryder Cup.
Phil on the other hand, can overtake Tiger with a win or a top four and with Tiger finishing outside the top 37. With rounds of 74 + 72 (failing to break par in either of the first two rounds of the Bridgestone), Tiger currently sits at a tie for 72nd place.
SI has come out with their “Fortunate 50” list for 2010. Once again the top to highest paid athletes are golfers!
#1: Tiger Woods has been the highest paid athlete for seven years in a row, despite a drop in $22 million last year. Boy how much could you do with an extra $22 million per year? Was it worth it? Despite dropping $22 million, Tiger still brought in $90 million. I suspect that number will be smaller for next year.
#2: Phil Mickelson is once again #2 in earnings and brought in $61 million.
Low scores abound in the first round at St. Andrews. Currently there are 70 players under par. A tie for the lowest round in a major championship by Rory McIlroy was posted, 63. He hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation. For once I made a good fantasy pick with Rory.
Tiger Woods is in the clubhouse with a 67 as well as Sean O’Hair (also on my fantasy team). A note on Tiger: He has left his Scotty Cameron putter in the garage this week and switched to a new Nike Method putter. I guess he read my Nike Method Putter review and decided to make the switch.
John (freaking) Daly posted a 66! There’s something about JD’s and links golf which just works. All that raw talent seems to jive with links style golf. John adjusted his driver down a degree and a half and that seems to be working.
Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood are just starting their rounds and are at even par after two and four holes prespectively.
Many more rounds to go but low scores are the news. Any players who haven’t posted rounds under par have missed out on a big opportunity today.