Lefty and Tiger Head to Head Once Again

The final round at Pebble Beach saw two familiar faces paired once again. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won a combined 111 PGA Tour events and 18 major championships. On Sunday, they were grouped again for the 30th time. Many viewers hoped for another thrilling finish. They got a thrilling performance, but that does not mean the final scores were close.

In fact, Mickelson pretty much wasted Woods on Sunday. He beat Tiger by 11 strokes with an 8-under 64. Lefty entered the day six strokes off the lead, but ended up winning by three. He had the lowest score of the day by three shots. In his dominating round, Mickelson made two beautiful long putts to save par and didn't have a single bogey. The victory gave Lefty his 40th career PGA Tour title, putting him in ninth-place all time.

Jim "Bones" Mackay has been Mickelson's caddie since his professional debut in 1992 (actually also at Pebble Beach). Following Lefty's incredible final round, Mackay stated, "Phil's a big-stage kind of a guy. I think it's fair to say that he enjoys what you saw out there today. He loves playing with Tiger. He loves having the chance to win tournaments. I think he gets fired up to have everybody watching."

Many viewers were indeed watching, which was good for a sport that has suffered in popularity since Woods' scandal. It was great to see these two old rivals at it once again. It was awesome to see Mickelson play so well once again. It was nice to see the sport matter once again for a day. For one Sunday, two old boys shared the spotlight once again. How many more times will this happen again? It is impossible to know for sure. What is for sure is that this day belonged to Phil Mickelson.