Phil Mickelson eyes Tiger Woods’ Presidents Cup wins record

On a day when Team USA once again dominated the Internationals 4-1 in the opening foursomes matches at the Presidents Cup, Phil Mickelson put himself in position to match Tiger Woods’ all-time PC record of 24 wins.

Mickelson was a controversial captain’s pick to play on his 11th Prez Cup team (and 21st straight U.S. team overall) after a pretty lousy PGA Tour season that featured three missed cuts and just three top-10 finishes in 19 starts. His short-game wizardry was on full display, though, when he holed a shot from the bunker on the par-3 13th hole on the Jack Nicklaus GC. The shot gave him and teammate Zach Johnson a 2-up edge over Jason Day and Steven Bowditch.

The Lefty-ZJ duo never looked back, closing out the other side by the same score and giving Phil his 11th foursomes victory, which led to the most understated celebration in which Mickelson has likely ever taken part.

We may not be used to seeing Phil and Zach as a team, but their celebration game is on-point. #PresidentsCup pic.twitter.com/eNcncLeUaN

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 8, 2015

"Keegan (Bradley), who I’ve played with the last three team events, is very excited and energetic and Zach’s never really been one to overly celebrate," Mickelson said after the win. "So we came up with just a very subdued handshake to celebrate our successes."

Speaking of the missing PC record-holder -- who has prevailed in a measly 13-of-29 Ryder Cup matches but has clinched the winning point in the past three Presidents Cup events -- Woods said on his website on Tuesday that he has yet to swing a club since his recent back surgery.

Tiger still intends to travel to Mexico City for the second annual America’s Golf Cup exhibition, where he’ll let would-be partner Matt Kuchar do the "heavy lifting" in a golf clinic.

I won't be able to compete, but I'll still travel to Mexico City Oct. 20-21 to support Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup presented by Value.

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) October 6, 2015

And though Woods will be unable to play competitively again until sometime next year, it’s always open season on the former No. 1. Woods has dropped to 311th in the world golf rankings and is projected to plummet outside the top 400 before he turns 40 in December.

First, it was Gary Player stating what most Tiger watchers believe to be the obvious -- that Woods’ game was in "big trouble" and that the 14-time major winner will never make it back to the pinnacle of the game again.

"I see his game in big trouble," Player told The National about Woods, who had one top-10 finish in 11 tour starts in 2015. "He’s had three knee operations, two back operations and a lot of other problems in life.

"And then we’ve seen him struggle in tournaments, where he was getting the yips, duffing chips and hitting chips over the green. When that happens you’ve got a big problem," noted Player, in Abu Dhabi to promote next year’s Gary Player Invitational. "Can he overcome it? I don’t think so ... I don’t think he’ll ever come back to be the Tiger Woods that he was, although I hope I’m wrong."

Meanwhile, Nick Faldo weighed in on a subject many believe has been a foregone conclusion for some time.

"There’s no way he was going to get to 19 (major titles) five years ago. Now, it’s really, really unlikely he could win another major," Faldo told Sporting News. "Next birthday (Woods will be) 40. He’s been playing incredible golf for 20 years ... and the last five years everything changed."

The kids dominating the tour these days -- your top-ranked Jordan Spieths, Nos. 2 and 3 Jason Days and Rory McIlroys -- may have grown up idolizing the world-beating Woods of yore but to them he’s just some has-been chasing a little white ball.

"Now he’s battling and these youngsters haven’t played against Tiger’s dominance," Faldo said. "So they’re not worried about Tiger anymore."

For this week and into the foreseeable future, Mickelson is not either. He has potentially four more opportunities to break Woods’ Presidents Cup record (Friday’s four-ball, Saturday’s foursomes and four-ball and Sunday’s singles).

"I don't know what Captain (Jay) Haas has in mind, but we are even better suited in four-ball than we would be in foursomes, and it fit very well in foursomes," said Mickelson, who famously ripped Ryder Cup skipper Tom Watson for benching him and Bradley for back-to-back Saturday sessions at Gleneagles.

Staff at Gleneagles need to take the booze out of the US team room or Phil and Tom are going to be throwing bottles at each other. #RyderCup

— Paul Mahoney (@paulmahoneygolf) September 28, 2014

"We just had so much fun," Phil gushed on Thursday in South Korea. "I think that we have even better golf in us. I think that it was a good day. We hit a lot of good shots but I think Zach and I, as we start to spend more time together, can even play better."