Woods, Mickelson Win At Tour Championship

Sports Betting News - September 28th, 2009 - Written by Scott

Here they stood. Two giants of the game holding equally rewarding trophies in their own right. Lefty, the big winner. Tiger, the bigger winner. Not once before had we seen both gleaming in front of the cameras, doing exactly what they had to do to get there. Not once before had they seemed so grateful for each other.

They needed each other. Phil Mickelson was so far out from the point standings that the best he could do would be to win the Tour Championship and collect the first-place pay check. He needed to have one of his best rounds of the year and Tiger Woods to just play par golf. The FedEx Cup was inconsequential.

Woods didn't have to win. He could finish second and still finish first in the standings to sack the $10 million bonus given to the overall winner. That is, however, as long as someone other than Sean O'Hair and Steve Stricker finished in first.

They needed each other, leaning on a rival like never before. And they were rewarded like never before. Woods finished one shot ahead of O'Hair and won that gigantic silver dish; Mickelson shot his lowest round of the FedEx Cup (65) and won his first tournament since his wife, Amy, and mother were informed they had breast cancer.

"It means a lot to finish the year off on such a good note," Mickelson said on ESPN.com. "We've been through a lot, and I'm very proud of my wife and my mom on the fight that they've been through. We're in good shape. Although day-to-day is tough, and it's not easy for them, we're fortunate that our long-term outlook is good."

He was referring to the Tour Championship trophy, which hadn't been his since 2000, which, incidently, he earned by out-shooting Woods, too. And he earned this one in every sense of the word. He out-putt Woods from every distance and converted 19 of 47 birdie attempts. Woods just converted 14 of 49. He was also aided by the fact that Kenny Perry, who had a two-shot lead to start the day, shot a 74 and fell into the abyss.

Mickelson took advantage of his performance right away, starting the round the same way he started the final day at Augusta. He carded a beautiful 31 on the front nine to get the ball rolling. He made a 15-footer for birdie on three and then followed up on four with a 30-footer. But the most important stat of the round was that he played bogey-free

The $1.35 million bounty for winning the tournament Sunday was compounded with a $3 million bonus for finishing second overall. It was also good enough to get him back into second place in the world rankings.

"I like the way today went," Mickelson added on ESPN.com. "I was two back of him, I beat him by three. He gets the $10 million check, and I get $1 million. I've got no problem with that. I just love holding this finally."

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