Golf: Tiger comes back to different order

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods returns this week from the longest break in his golfing reign to face what is unarguably the biggest threat to his pre-eminence.

An absence from competition of nearly 10 weeks is no way to prepare to put a great pretender in his place. Not when Phil Mickelson is in this form, on this run, looking this real.

In fairness, the world No 1 has something of an alibi for his whereabouts since the Masters. The loss of a father is an important moment in all our lives, but in Tiger's it was seminal.

Regardless of the sentiment that will pour forth should he prevail on Father's Day, from a purely sporting perspective Tiger's reaction to Earl's death will define this week's US Open.

Should Mickelson be allowed to win his third major in succession and so set up the "Mickelslam" at Hoylake, then Woods' hegemony will suddenly have a rival who appears menacing both on fairway and in record book.

Mickelson would become the fourth man to hold three majors at the same time - Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan being the others - and at a total of four his major count would be making further inroads into Tiger's mark of 10.

Incredibly, all of them would have come in the past 10 majors, while in that Tigeresque-period the man himself would have collected only two.

What have they always said about Woods' dominance being a one-off, never to be repeated in this ever-so-competitive modern era?

And maybe it will prove so, pleasing legend-lovers everywhere, as Mickelson has not only to negotiate his now shrewd path around Woods and 154 other Tin Cup wannabes, including Open champion Michael Campbell, but also around Winged Foot.

At 7246m, the monster of Mamaroneck is the longest layout that has been used for the most demanding major of all, and at 514m will boast the longest par-four hole in major history.

"I'm going to make a prediction," said Mickelson. "Somebody will hit the wrong ball out of the rough. There are not just hundreds, but thousands, of members' balls hidden in there that you just can't see, even if you're stood over them."

Cue the moans that have served as a constant theme to the USGA's annual horror show.

The much-maligned body will excuse themselves with their new policy of graduated rough (2m of "intermediate" up to 3.8cm deep; 4m of "primary rough" up to 10cm; "secondary rough" up to 15cm extending all the way to the ropes) and slower greens (32cm on the stimpmeter - veritable rice puddings for the USGA) and claim they have thus guarded against a repeat of 1974 and the "Massacre of Winged Foot", when Hale Irwin's winning score was seven over par.

Mickelson does not foresee it being that bad. Not quite.

"Winged Foot is so difficult that you don't have to do ridiculous things to make par a good score," he said.

One fairway is just 18m wide, the most forgiving 25m. "And not only that, but there are so many doglegs. You have to carve and work your tee shots with the angle of the hole."

For that purpose he has had a driver designed especially, weighted for control rather than distance.

It is a quandary Woods would be envious of as he worries whether his game can possibly be match-fit. His nemesis expects it to be.

"For anybody else on tour, coming off such a break would be a real challenge, but for him the same rules don't apply. I don't think it's going to be a problem for him - unfortunately."

- INDEPENDENT