I find it kind of ironic that the consummate family man was wearing the Green Jacket on Sunday at Augusta instead of the man trying to rebound after destroying his. No matter what you think of Phil Mickelson personally, some say he's two-faced, he also lacks that killer instinct, one thing can't be denied: he always seems to put his family first. His wife and mother are currently fighting cancer. His family has always traveled with him until his wife got sick. Not much of a coincidence that he won with them traveling again. He even spent Saturday night, before the final round at Augusta, in the doctors office with his 10 year old daughter who fractured her wrist while roller skating. The story coming in was all about Tiger Woods. I don't need to rehash all the drama leading up to the Masters, nor do I need to explain why he is not the family man Mickelson is, or why Mickelson isn't the golfer Tiger is. And I was just as interested in his story as everybody else. I wanted to see how he would do coming off a huge layoff and having to deal with truly facing the public for the first time. Even though the Masters is a very controlled atmosphere, Tiger still had to step out in front of thousands of fans, not knowing if he would experience the same love he was used to, or if it would be muted, kind of like the way he said his emotions would be. It turned out, things remained the same as before. The gallery roared when Tiger performed, who could forget the wrap around shot onto the green on day one, and was disappointed when he finally played his way out of contention, the bogey on 14 was unbelievable to fathom, coming from a guy who is always so focused. It was almost Phil-like the way he missed that short putt for par. There were also the outbursts, although not profanity laced, they still came as his game seemed to desert him at times, yelling out loud at himself after a bad shot. The amazing thing about this is he still finished fourth. His wife no where to be seen, who knows if and when she will make her return by his side. Yet, he was still in contention, out there all by himself, trying to do the one thing he's always loved most... winning. I don't think the same thing can be said for Phil. He won the Green Jacket, but the thing he loves most is his family. And unlike Woods, even if Mickelson had lost, I truly believe that he still would have left Augusta with his most prized possession. Many consider Woods to be the best ever, present company included. It's just on Sunday at Augusta, he wasn't the best... the guy who puts family first was.
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