PGA back at Southern Hills as Mickelson skips title defense

The anticipation had been building the last few weeks for the PGA Championship, just like it was for the Masters. And just like the last major, the hype was more about who played than who had a chance to win.

Tiger Woods not only played Augusta National, he made the cut.

Phil Mickelson won’t even make it to the first tee at Southern Hills.

Six days before the opening round on the classic course in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mickelson decided not to defend his title and extend his three-month hiatus from golf.

And to think it was just one year ago when Mickelson celebrated one of the most stunning feats in 161 years of the majors.

He won the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island at age 50 to become golf’s oldest major champion.

The last PGA champion who didn’t defend was Woods in 2008 as he recovered from reconstructive surgery on his left knee. Before that it was Ben Hogan in 1949, who was nearly killed some four months earlier when a bus hit his car in west Texas.

Mickelson’s injuries were more self-inflicted. He kept everyone guessing when he signed up for the PGA Championship on April 25, even if it was a matter of procedure. His manager said Lefty was merely keeping his options open, and then he shut them on Friday.

“I personally think it’s an unbelievable mental challenge to come back and play after what

he’s put himself through. I don’t think it’s as easy as just getting back on the bike and arriving at a golf tournament and playing, said six-time major champion and CBS analyst Nick Faldo.

Mickelson is sure to be a topic one way or another. Alan Shipnuck’s unauthorized biography on Mickelson is to be released on Tuesday.

His public image took a beating in February when Shipnuck published an excerpt of his book in which Mickelson outlined his involvement with a Saudifunded rival league.

He was dismissive talking about the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, saying it was worth getting involved if it meant having leverage to change how the PGA Tour operates. He even said he recruited three other players to pay lawyers to write the new league’s operating agreement.

Top sponsors dropped him, Mickelson released a statement that read more like an explanation than an apology, and he said he “desperately” needed time away.

Now it’s a matter of when he returns. His absence figures to be glaring, one of several subplots to a major that is sure to provide intrigue even before the first shot is struck.

Woods hasn’t declared for certain that he will play another major, though he was in Tulsa last week to play — and walk — a practice round, and it would be a surprise if he didn’t play. Woods won the PGA Championship at Southern Hills the last time it was there in 2007.

It’s not exactly the same course. Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner finished a restoration project at Southern Hills geared toward making the course a modern test without losing the charm of its original Perry Maxwell design.

Along with bringing back a creek that cuts through the 10th and 17th fairways, the edges of the greens now funnel shots away from the putting surfaces instead of toward the center, putting a premium on being in the fairway and at the right angle depending on the pin.

Woods has cast such a huge shadow on the sport for so long that it’s easy to overlook the strongest field of the four majors and who might best have a chance of hoisting that 27-pound Wanamaker Trophy.

That starts with a pair of Texans who head to the other side of the Red River to chase different versions of the Grand Slam.

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler has a long way to go, and while he rarely thinks about anything beyond the next shot, he likely is aware only three players in the last 20 years have won the first two majors of the year.