If you love Phil Mickelson, well, he loves you back.
After an early charge yesterday at The Barclays that almost put him into a playoff, Mickelson declared his unwavering enjoyment for tournament golf in the New York Metropolitan area.
“I love playing here,” said Mickelson, whose final-round 66 at Liberty National Golf Course in Jersey City left him just two shots behind winner Adam Scott. “I love playing in the metropolitan area, New York, New Jersey, it’s just terrific, and the golf courses are incredible. But the people are really fun to play in front of. They are just fun.”
“They are my favorite — It’s probably my favorite place to play. First of all, they have been great to me and my family, and I love some of the comments. It’s funny.”
Mickelson was doing all he could to catch the leaders, going out in 3-under 33 and making birdies on four of the first six holes of the back nine. After he missed a six-footer for birdie on 16, Tiger Woods walked past the green and the two exchanged a brief look.
The surrounding crowd loved the moment, and made their preference for Phil rather clear.
“They are very energetic,” Mickelson said of the fans, in what could be the understatement of the week.
* Rickie Fowler and Jonas Blixt are buddies, and they decided to have a little Sunday fun.
The two were paired together yesterday and they both decided to dress in Fowler’s traditional — for him — final-round orange. They were done up from head-to-toe in the bright clothes, accented with white belts to complete the creamsicle look.
“A lot of people didn’t understand that we’re actually friends and this might have been planned,” said Fowler, who shot a final-round 70 and finished three shots behind Scott. “So a lot of [the fans] were saying, you know, like did you call each other last night? Well, of course this was planned. He didn’t do it to [tick] me off or something.”
If the results are to be any indicator, Blixt probably won’t do it again. He shot a 10-over 81, and finished 3-over for the tournament.
“I was going to burn them,” Blixt joked about the clothes, which were loaned to him by Fowler. “I mean, if I shot 81 and I didn’t wear this, I’d probably be a little more [ticked] off right now.”
* It would be thoughtful if Camilo Villegas sent Aaron Baddeley a little something, you know, for the effort.
As Baddeley bogeyed the final three holes yesterday, he slipped out of the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings and vaulted Villegas back in the last spot. That means Baddley’s season has ended, while Villegas will move on to next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship outside of Boston.
After the Deutsche Bank — which starts Friday and ends on Labor Day — the field will be cut to 70 for the BMW Championship outside of Chicago. From there, only the top 30 will be invited to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.