KOHLER, Wis. — After watching his wife and mother battle breast cancer over the last year, Phil Mickelson revealed his own medical scare yesterday.
The world’s No. 2-ranked golfer said he has been diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis, a condition that has caused him severe pain in his joints. Mickelson said he is being treated for the condition and the long-term prognosis is good, offering him a sense of relief after weeks of anxiety.
“I’ve had some great doctors and things have been looking great, and long-term there shouldn’t be any issues,” Mickelson said. “It’s very treatable and the medicine I’ve been taking has been very helpful. I feel 90 percent.”
Mickelson said he first noticed symptoms five days before the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach when he woke up with “intense pain in some areas of my body, some joints and tendons and so forth; so much that I couldn’t walk.”
He eventually went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota after the British Open to confirm the diagnosis. He now gives himself a shot of Embrel once a week to block the protein that attacks his joints.
“I’ve only been doing it two weeks now and I seem to have some pretty immediate progress so it’s been great,” he said. “That’s why I feel comfortable talking about it, knowing that long-term and short-term things are fine.”
The 2005 PGA Champion didn’t use his condition as an excuse for his poor showings at the British Open and at the Bridgestone Invitational where he finished tied for 48th and 46th, respectively. He also isn’t sure how well he’ll perform during this weekend’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
“I’ve got to get my game sharp here, and after the weekend that I had last week [including a 78 on Sunday], I’m a little nervous going into this week,” he said. “Because I felt like things were coming around. So this has put me back on edge and I’ve got some work to do.”
Mickelson has another chance to overtake Tiger Woods as the world’s No. 1-ranked player should he win his fifth major. It’s something he hopes to accomplish now that he’s feeling better.
“I wasn’t thinking about it too much,” he said of the top ranking. “I was more concerned about getting through some of this [medical] stuff. Now that we seem to have a treatment that works and I feel great and I can work out and practice again, I’m looking forward to getting my game sharp for this week and the FedExCup and the Ryder Cup.”