Rick & Dave
They call themselves "Team Mickelson," a couple of fix-it men who equipped their client with a refined swing and a new game plan.
"I have entrusted my game with Rick Smith and Dave Pelz," Phil Mickelson said in response to a question in 2004.
That trust certainly panned out. In a matter of four months, his coaches helped lead Mickelson from his worst season as a professional to his first major championship.
"There is no more fun than helping one of the great players in the game prepare and then watch him execute beyond your belief," Pelz said.
From the time they sat down before the 2004 season and Mickelson said, "Let's try it your way," until the time he leaped and landed on the 18th green at Augusta and screamed "Oh, my god; we did it!" it was one of the finest team efforts in golf.
"Starting last year with the right guys and the right direction when I practice and go to the course, it translates into lower scores," Mickelson said.
Smith and Pelz are an odd couple of sorts, but the perfect fit for Mickelson's personality.
Smith handles the swing mechanics, fostering a more consistent cut shot and allowing Mickelson to take out the right side of the golf course, where most of his troubles reside.
The "New Phil," as some have called him, is really a hybrid version of the old, aggressive Mickelson - one with a more consistent swing.
"You can't take the aggression out of a player, but you can certainly make a player have a more solid golf swing," Smith said. "Generally speaking, it's more balanced and more consistent."
The former NASA scientist came in to deal with the details. With all the shots Mickelson possesses, which shots to hit where and under what circumstances were critical to his advancement.
"I had been looking at his game, and one of the things I saw was he was not particularly prepared for Augusta when he got there," Pelz said. "He did nothing special for the majors, and I don't think that's the right way to do it."
Pelz's preparation program is not about feel or touch or magic. It's about data - hard and concrete - gathered through exhaustive, on-site testing before every major.
"What I am is a numbers man," Pelz said. "I believe in statistics and odds and measuring. ... I gave Phil numbers, and Phil took to those numbers like a duck to water."
Pelz showed Mickelson his theories of probability. If you keep it in the fairway, you have this much chance of making a birdie. If you miss it right, your chances decrease this much. For a gambling golfer such as Mickelson, it was akin to teaching him how to count cards at a casino and cut into the house advantage.
"Pelz has helped me analyze what shots are worth the risk and what shots are not," Mickelson said. "I look back and there might have been some shots that I created where, although I could pull it off, the reward wasn't great enough to justify the risk."
By Sunday morning of the Masters, there was nothing more the fix-it men could fix. Smith watched Mickelson stacking shots on top of each other on the range and knew he was ready.
"From a teacher's perspective, it was probably one of the happiest days of my life," Smith said. "To watch the guy you're working with clicking on all cylinders, you just smile a lot."
Pelz, ever the realist, didn't feel the same sense of magic on the course as he watched Ernie Els build a three-stroke lead on the back nine.
"The mode I was in is that Ernie has played the most fabulous fourth round of the Masters I'd ever seen and hit the most fabulous shots - two eagles, two up-and-downs he had no right to make," Pelz said. "Nobody can beat that."
Mickelson did, with five birdies on the final seven holes. Pelz laughs at the misconception that Mickelson played more conservatively and tamed his gambling spirit to win his first major.
"He did not back off the gas," he said. "He is as aggressive as he's ever been under certain circumstances, but those are the circumstances that he knows the numbers are in his favor. ... He's got a win game now that can beat anybody."
Seeing the culmination of plan, work and execution on the 18th green gave his coaches the same high Mickelson felt himself.
"It was an overwhelming moment that we'll never forget as long as we live," Smith said. "That was a very special time in the history of the game of golf and it was wonderful to be part of it.''
| See Phil Mickelson From All Sides | |
| The happiest player ever to win a major | |
| His colleagues | His family |
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| His journey | His moment |
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