We‘ll ‘never see’ Tiger of old again
GOLF HE PLAYED IN HIS PRIME UNREPEATABLE Old rivals grouped together at Players Championship.
Tiger Woods in his prime played the best golf ever seen and it is highly unlikely those heights will ever be reached again, Phil Mickelson said on Tuesday ahead of this week’s Players Championship.
Mickelson traded friendly barbs with his old rival during their respective press conference at TPC Sawgrass, their relaxed demeanour a far cry from the days when, as the older American admitted, “it sucked” to have to face Woods on the course.
“I don’t think (we) will ever see that level of play again,” 47-yearold Mickelson said.
“It was the most remarkable golf in the history of the game and I think unrepeatable. I think it was that good.”
The once icy relationship between the multiple Major winners has thawed since they hit their 40s, and they appeared genuinely pleased to be grouped together for the first two rounds here today and tomorrow.
They have played together only once at the Players Championship – in the third round in 2001 – when Woods was at the peak of the powers that brought him 14 Major championships in barely a decade. It was the era when Woods won the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach by 15 strokes, a record performance Mickelson suspects some younger players do not fully appreciate.
“I look at 2000 as being kind of the benchmark at the US Open as being the greatest golf I’ve ever witnessed and I believe has ever been played. And it sucked to have to play against him,” Mickelson said.
The hype over their grouping this week -- they will play with another American in Rickie Fowler -- prompted Mickelson to playfully suggest sidelining the other 142 players and deciding the title in a head-to-head winner-takes-all match.
“Fifteen years ago my record against him sucked, and now it’s okay,” Mickelson said, giving a bit of needle. “I’m doing better as time has gone on.”