Boston Herald

Nervous Mickelson stands up to pressure

- By RON BORGES

NOTEBOOK

CHASKA, Minn. — Phil Mickelson was a nervous wreck when he walked to the first tee yesterday morning at the 41st Ryder Cup. He had ample reason to feel that sense of dread.

Having ripped Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson two years ago after losing at Gleneagles and this week laying at the feet of 2004 captain Hal

Sutton the blame for the poor play of himself and Tiger Woods when Sutton surprising­ly paired them in that Ryder Cup loss, the pressure was squarely on Mickelson. He had pushed hard for more player input and involvemen­t in decision making after the debacle at Gleneagles and he got it, but now he had to produce, which historical­ly he had not done in Ryder Cup play.

“Certainly I felt more pressure heading into today’s matches,” Mickelson admitted after he and

Rickie Fowler came from 2-down with four to play to defeat Rory

McIlroy and Andy Sullivan 1-up by winning Nos. 15, 16 and 17 and then halving 18. “Given the buildup over the last couple years, the criticism, the comments, what have you, the pressure was certainly as great or greater than I’ve ever felt.

“I could have copped out and asked to sit but that would have been a total weak move. I wanted to get out there.

“Certainly I played tight. This guy (Fowler) loosened me up. That’s why I wanted him as my partner. He knows what to say and when to say it. He got some of my best golf out of me there in the end. Some of the iron shots down the stretch, a lot of it was due to things that he said to get me in the right frame of mind.”

Whatever he said, Fowler should have passed it on to his struggling teammates in the afternoon session.

“I think we all kind of sensed and had a good feeling heading into today that the morning was going to go well,” Mickelson said. “We didn’t know it would go that well but we knew we were going to have a good morning.”

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