4 straight birdies elevate Mickelson
Let’s face it: Safeway Open officials are discreetly rooting for Phil Mickelson to enjoy another birdie binge and surge into contention Sunday at Silverado Resort.
And if Mickelson hoists the trophy? Even better.
All tournaments are not created equal, and neither are all golfers. This event remains mostly an afterthought on the crowded October sports landscape — stuffed two weeks after the Tour Championship, stuck behind college football, NFL games and the baseball playoffs.
So just picture Mickelson, easily the biggest name in the field, making a spirited, final-
round charge to win for the first time in more than four years. Now there’s a jolt of adrenaline.
He gave himself a chance Saturday, shooting 68 on Silverado’s baked-out North Course. That pushed Mickelson to 10under for the week, tied for seventh and four strokes off the lead.
And know this heading into Sunday’s final round: He doesn’t lack for confidence.
“I’m going to win, it’s a matter of time,” Mickelson said. “I don’t know if it’s (Sunday) and I don’t know if it’s in China (later this month), but it’s going to happen. It’s going to happen soon because I’m starting to play well enough to do it.”
That’s bold talk for a golfer who hasn’t won in his previous 90 starts, dating to the 2013 British Open. Mickelson is 47 now, an age at which even Hall of Fame players tend to fade gently into obscurity.
But he’s hanging around, helping the U.S. team win last week’s Presidents Cup and now planting himself in the hunt at Silverado. Look around him on the leaderboard and find a swirl of youth and inexperience.
Among the top 10 players, Mickelson owns 42 career victories and the others have 11 combined. Bill Haas (six) is the only player aside from Mickelson with more than two wins.
Not surprisingly, then, an unmistakable buzz spread through the gallery when Mickelson
posted four consecutive birdies Saturday. He shot 32 on the front nine, despite hitting
zero tee shots on the fairway. But Mickelson is a master of creative recovery shots, as he illustrated after his tee shot on No. 13 landed in deep rough right of the fairway. He hit what he described as a “smother-hook” recovery shot, which obediently curved around the trees and scooted onto the green.
He made the birdie putt, naturally.
Other sights and sounds from Saturday’s round at Silverado:
One year ago, Harold Varner III resembled a wide-eyed teenager when he played with Warriors guard Stephen Curry in the Wednesday pro-am.
Now Varner is trading trash talk with Curry.
Varner lived in Ohio for several years as a kid and remains an avid Cavaliers fan. This led to some good-natured banter last
year at Silverado, a few months after the Warriors infamously blew a 3-1 lead and lost to Cleveland in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Curry and Varner have kept in touch since then, so Curry sent Varner a signed Warriors jersey this summer with “2017 NBA champs” written on it. Varner responded by sending Curry some new wedges, with “3-1, Never Forget” scrawled on them.
“It was pretty funny,” Varner said. “All Steph texted back was 20 (emojis) crying faces or laughing faces . ... The Cavs are going to be good this year, so I’m going to talk some smack.”
Friendly reminder, Harold: The Warriors also will be good this year. Very good.
Maverick McNealy, who briefly seized a share of the lead Friday, shot 73 on Saturday and slid back to the pack. He will begin the final round tied for 46th.
Fellow Stanford alum Patrick Rodgers sees great things in McNealy’s future. Rodgers also knows McNealy’s abundant amateur success doesn’t carry much weight on tour.
“Mav understands none of that means anything anymore,” Rodgers said. “He still has to earn his way out here, just like the guy who was No. 5 on a random college team.”
And we close with the irrepressible John Daly, who made the cut at age 51. One spectator pointed a camera phone at Daly on Saturday and demanded, “Hey, John, gimme the finger!” Daly wisely ignored the man.
Asked the funniest thing he heard from the gallery, Daly feigned surprise and replied, “Everybody wants to drink beer with me. It’s pretty cool.”