Mickelson and Westwood in Houston opening rounds

As part of the PGA Tour’s featured grouping at the Shell Houston Open, Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson will play with defending champion indoor golf practice Anthony Kim in the opening two rounds at Redstone.With a top two finish, Westwood can go into the Masters as the top-ranked player in the world. And he’s looking to play the week before each major this year to stay fresh.“If you look at all the major championships this year, I am playing the week before. If I go in after two weeks off I could be rusty, even for nine holes – and that’s too much in a major,” Westwood said.Mickelson is Gal Wins Kia Classic competing on a course that doesn’t quite match the shots he will hit at Augusta – looking to get into the right frame of mind and form of swing to prepare for a run at a fourth green jacket.

Phil Mickelson gets chance to pass Tiger

With one win between them in their last 46 Tour appearances, the rivalry is starting to resemble Athens vs. Sparta. But because they are who they are, we still care. Woods is trying to come back from a self-immolation that earned him worldwide ridicule. Mickelson is trying to come back from a cursed run that earned him worldwide sympathy. His wife got indoor golf practice breast cancer. Then his mother got it. He developed psoriatic arthritis that turned his body into a rusty Tin Man. His 8-year-old son had a mysterious kidney ailment. He used to be so easy to doubt and make fun of. But after all he’s been through, Mickelson now gets the benefit of the doubt. He really inoculated himself from criticism with his tear-drenched Masters win last year. With Woods swatting at TMZ helicopters, Free Pass Phil was set up to finally supplant Tiger as the No. 1 player in the world. In 15 tournaments, he couldn’t take the throne. It was impossible to know how much of it was due to the medical problems, and how much was due to Lefty being Lefty. He’s the only guy with Tiger’s talent, but he never had Woods’ drive, or discipline (at least when it came to golf). The crazy shots, the subcutaneous fat, the unorthodox approach like carrying two drivers. It all made Mickelson an easy target.

Now we dare not shoot at him. Even on days like Sunday, when he completely squandered a chance to pass Woods in the world rankings. To his What Do LPGA Bring To Phoenix Business credit, Mickelson hasn’t sought sympathy or offered any excuses. Nobody knew about the arthritis until weeks after he’d been to the Mayo clinic and figured out why he could barely grip a club. Even then, the prevailing sentiment was humor. Mickelson, the guy who never met a hamburger he didn’t love, was becoming a vegetarian.

Phil Mickelson has not been ahead of Woods in the Official World Golf Ranking in 14 years

Such a distinction would have meant a lot more had Mickelson been able to move to No. 1 in the world last year for the first time in his career.Still, Mickelson had the opportunity Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.Had he been able to stay in the top 10 and in front of Tiger, Lefty would have moved to No. 5, trading places with Woods and getting in front of him for the first time since prior to the 1997 Masters.Instead, Mickelson bogeyed three of the indoor golf practice last five holes to drop into a tie with Woods -- who played the last two holes in 3 over par.While both players admitted some frustration over their finishes at the Bay Hill Club, both pronounced their weeks in gearing up for the year's first major championship at the Masters as a success."I feel good about the way I played on the weekend, and the type of shots I was hitting," said Mickelson, whose final-round 73 dropped him to a tie for 24th -- in the same position as Woods.Laird shot a 3-over 75 in the final round, the highest score by a winner in the tournament's 33-year history and the highest by a PGA Tour winner since Trevor Immelman won the 2008 Masters with the same closing score.

On that front, Steve Marino, who butchered the 17th hole with a double-bogey that effectively wrecked his shot at securing his first tour win, is headed to Augusta National to practice on Monday, which ought to qualify as good news. It will almost certainly be less torturous. In every tournament Mickelson played last year following the Masters, there was a scenario Confident Biershenk With His Golf Play by which he could have moved ahead of Woods for the No. 1 ranking -- a total of 15 times."I think I'm playing a little bit better this year [going into the Masters], but I'm not getting the results," Mickelson said. "But as far as the way I'm striking it, heading into Augusta last year, I wasn't striking it well and I had a great session with Butch [Harmon] early in the week and it kind of turned things around.

Phil Mickelson in 2010 wiped out Westwood

The season’s first Major does not start until April 7 but Westwood, who had a five-shot lead wiped out by Phil Mickelson in 2010, is heading to Augusta with his caddie, Billy Foster, before the official practice.“The plan is to play 27 holes on Sunday indoor golf practice and 18 on Monday,” he said. “When there’s no one there and it’s all quiet, it’s easier to just get on and do the work.“Billy has his yardage book and a little black book where the extra bits of course knowledge is written down. That sort of stuff is invaluable.”Paul Lawry believes he has found an unusual way to get his career back on track after nine years without a win on the European Tour.He has travelled to Spain this week with five DVDs of the series Criminal Minds to help get his own mind off the problems he Golf Pros Contract Is Not Confirmed has been having on the golf course.After a second-round 67 at the Open de Andalucía in Malaga, he is just one shot off the lead.Colin Montgomery missed the cut after a 72.

Phil Mickelson also searches for his game this week at Bay Hill

Spencer Levin led by three after a 6-under 66, followed by Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan (3-under 69). Late entry Phil Mickelson birdied his last hole to join a large group at 70 before Tiger Woods posted 73.Mickelson and Woods, neither of whom has found his A-game this year, get most of the press, but everyone at Bay Hill is searching. Golf is like indoor golf practice that. McDowell, the same guy who won the U.S. Open last summer and who clinched the winning point at the Ryder Cup last fall, made six bogeys and a triple Thursday. Yes, sir, it appears he's got the game whipped.Robert Damron has dropped off the Tour and like many is playing on a sponsor's exemption here. He posted a sporty 73 Thursday.Then there was Andy Bean, 58, who is playing to commemorate his Bay Hill victory, which included a second-round course and tournament record 62, 30 years ago. He bogeyed two of his first three holes Thursday but hung tough and shot a respectable 74.

Apparently, over the course of 30 years of nips and tucks, Bay Hill has not been Bean-proofed."Just being around Mr. Palmer is wonderful," said Bean, a longtime resident of Lakeland, about an hour away on I-4, who nonetheless has been staying with a friend in Orlando this week."Arnold's done so much for the game. I saw him Friday afternoon, and I asked him, I said, 'It's okay if I play, isn't it?' He was over there Karrie Webb Is The Winner Of LPGA Founders Cup on the range hitting balls. He said, 'Isn't your name up on the board?' 'Yes, sir.' 'You still got the record, don't you?' 'Yes.' He gave a little wink. He's been great. This is close to home."The search keeps us going, and this week it also includes Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders (74), and Jules (Skip) Kendall, another Orlando resident who has long since dropped off the Tour. Kendall, 46, fired a 3-under 33 on his first nine, the back at Bay Hill, but crashed with a triple-bogey on the watery par-5 sixth hole and signed for a dispiriting 75.

Phil Mickelson played one of the most amazing shots in Masters’ history

As Phil Mickelson stood on the par five 13th hole at Augusta National nursing a brand new two-stroke lead in yesterday’s Masters, his 200 yard shot to the green was over the creek and through an opening of about four feet between two pines. This was clearly a no-brainer. His longtime caddy, Jim “Bones” Mackay made his feelings clear; punch out of the trees, hit a wedge to the green and try to make a birdie.However, there was never really a indoor golf practice doubt in Mickelson’s mind what was going to happen. Instead, he played one of the most amazing shots in Masters’ history when he stepped up and striped a six iron through that narrow gap, landing about four feet to the right of the cup. As fellow three-time Masters winner and CBS commentator Nick Faldo, described, “The greatest shot of his life.” The fact that he missed the short eagle putt and tapped in for a birdie was anti-climactic. True followers of golf knew at that moment, he had taken control of the tournament.After all, Phil had been particularly attentive in the months since she was diagnosed. That commitment had cost Mickelson. He had not blamed his struggles to his wife’s illness, but those around him said being torn between his job and family had taken its toll. His swing coach, Butch Harmon described it well. “It’s been very hard, obviously. He had to take a lot of criticism and stuff, and quite frankly, he wants to be home. He wants to be where he’s needed, and he’s played through it. A lot of it is just his head wasn’t 100 percent into it.”

Talent is more important on PGA Tour

Star power just ain't what it used to be on the PGA Tour.Remember the so-called Big Four -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els? Only a few years ago, these guys made golf. They were golf.Now, they're simply spokes in the wheel.They're still great players, legendary players, but it's obvious that they're no longer the only game in town.So far this season, guys like Jhonattan Vegas, Mark Wilson, Nick Watney and Gary Woodland are driving the dialogue. Good players, but not exactly household names.Woodland, who indoor golf practice won last week's Transitions Championship in just his 34th career start, is the third first-time winner on tour this year. And Woodland, who started playing golf seriously only about eight years ago, was the seventh winner in 11 weeks of the tour season to earn a trip to the Masters with a victory.Nick Watney, 14th in the world, is the highest-ranked player to win a stroke-play event this year. Phil Mickelson will get the big challenge in his golf career.

You never imagine another side of Phil

Mickelson showed up Tuesday morning with a double-strap Callaway travel bag slung over his broad shoulders, walking every step of the 7,607-yard champion course with Paul Spengler, the executive vice president of the Pebble Beach Co., long-time indoor golf practice friend Pete Coe, the head pro at La Jolla CC, and Coe's son, Bucky. Mickelson's buddy Gregg Tryhus, the Scottsdale developer (Grayhawk and Whisper Rock), walked every step with them, but Phil never let him take the bag. After telling everyone at the dinner that Torrey Pines would be the toughest U.S. Open in years, he went out and shot 70 from the back tees before gathering up the family and heading to Fort Worth for the Crowne Plaza Invitational. Seeing Mickelson in shorts, carrying his own sticks, is nothing new around Torrey Pines. Lefty has been doing that since he was playing junior golf. He was out with brother Tim before the Players in the same gear and came back with a scouting report and take on the Golf Digest U.S. Open Challenge. Tim, the coach at the University of San Diego, is actually longer than Phil, who drove one 357 yards on Thursday at Colonial during an opening round 65. "Phil has enjoyed carrying his own bag since his junior golf days," Coe said. "He just feels more connected to the course and it allows him to play at his own pace. I feel if the USGA would let him, he would pack his own bag for the Open and probably imagine he was playing in another Junior World."

Golf Magazine--the best helper for golfers

RadarGolf, the greatest golf advancement of the fledgling 21st century.With a remarkable simple-to-use handheld device and affordable, high-technology to locate your ball in the rough, behind branches, among the leaves—anywhere except indoor golf practice under water.“The big breakthrough was making the chip and the ball durable enough to withstand impact,”  Savarese says.  “When you hit a golf ball with a driver, the ball goes through an ungodly amount of g-force.”In our testing, both the handheld device and the golf balls performed far better than expected.  Balls were usually detected within about 15 paces of their location, and we pounded the USGA-approved RadarGolf balls more than 300 yards a whack and stuck them on Casey In Transitions Championship greens using lob wedges.What’s more, the technology can be applied to any golf ball so Savarese hopes for a day when all major manufacturers will offer RadarGolf versions of the industry’s most popular models. Titelist and Callaway, are you listening?

"This is a tremendous honor for the Rawls Course," said Greg Winter, The Rawls Course general manager. "Back in the fall we were named Spittle Keeps Ahead In Second Chance Of Golf one of the top collegiate courses in the country and now to be listed as one of the top five courses you can play in the state is gratifying. There are some great courses on that list and to be No. 5 is something we should all be proud of." Developed by architect Tom Doak, The Rawls Course is home to both the men's and women's golf programs at Texas Tech. The Rawls Course has been one of the foundations for both training and recruiting by head coaches Greg indoor golf practice Sands and JoJo Robertson. The course is named after Texas Tech alum Jerry S. Rawls, who generously donated the majority of the funding needed to make the facility one of the top courses in the nation. Rawls is also the namesake for Texas Tech's Rawls College of Business.