First, congratulations to Phil Mickelson for his 40th Tour Victory. My #6 prediction for this year was that Lefty wouldn’t win a tournament this year. I’m happy to be wrong. My reasoning was that the young talent would edge him (and Tiger) out. Not yet, apparently.

It was nice to see Phil and Tiger in a final round pairing. That’s happened far less than most golf fans would like—just nine times. Phil holds the lead in the series, and has won the last five consecutive times the two have had a final round pairing.

Phil looked really sharp, particularly in his putting. When Tiger holed out the sand shot on the par 3 twelfth, Phil’s answer with the 30 foot putt was a definitive statement.

And speaking of putting: Tiger looked positively lost on the greens. After the round, he said “I could not see my lines. I couldn’t get comfortable.” It showed. He was missing putts I never thought he’d miss: two footers; five footers. it was almost as though the pressure had gotten to him.

The Mainstream Golf Media tries to put a nice spin on it, but I think Tiger is a long way from winning. He’s a very good PGA Tour player these days, but he’s not where the main stream media wants him. Faldo agrees. During the CBS broadcast, he said “Tiger’s got a good enough game to get into contention, but not good enough to finish it off.”

Part of it is that I think Tiger no longer intimidates his opponents into making mistakes. Today, it was Tiger making the mistakes. In fact, he hasn’t had that intimidation factor working in his favor since YE Yang backed him down at the PGA Championship.

Phil returns next week. No word on when Tiger plays next.

Known for the vast majority of its life as The Los Angeles Open, the Northern Trust Open also has flown under the banner of the Nissan Open and—in the days of the celebrity hosted event—the Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open. Since 1973, it has been played at the fabled Riviera Country Club, with the exception of 1983, when the club hosted the PGA Championship and 1998, when it hosted the US Senior Open.

The tournament and the Club have gained a place in golf history. In the 1938 tournament, Babe Zaharias became the first woman to play in a men’s professional tournament. Ben Hogan won there in 1942, 1947 and 1948—which, along with his 1948 US Open victory at Riviera, gave the place the sobriquet “Hogan’s Alley.” Three victories in two years at Riviera is an amazing accomplishment. Finally, the 1992 Nissan Los Angeles Open gave amateur Tiger Woods his first spot in a professional tournament—a favor he has repaid by never again returning to the event.

The inaugural Los Angeles Open was played in 1926 at the Los Angeles Country Club. The next year, it moved to El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana. It moved again in 1928 to the Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Open made its first appearance at the Riviera Country Club in 1929 and 1930. In the 1930s the event was held at the Wilshire Country Club, the Hillcrest Country Club, The Los Angeles Country Club an Griffith Park.

Following a break for World War II, the Los Angeles Open was played at the Wilshire Country Club in 1944, and then for the next nine years at Riviera. In the 1950s, it was played at Fox Hills Country Club, Inglewood Country Club and Inglewood. Rancho Park hosted the event from 1956 to 1972.

Riviera Country Club, the current host of the Northern Trust - Los Angeles Open is one of the country’s fabled courses. The course opened in 1926 as the Los Angeles Athletic Golf Course with George Thomas listed as its principal designer. Credit, however, also is given to Alister Mackenzie and Billie Bell. After several redesigns, Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore made an attempt in 1992 to return Riviera’s bunkers to the original Thomas-MacKenzie design.

Thomas’ work at Riviera is oft cited for its risk-reward design. The first, for example, is a short par 5 that has a tee elevated some 75 feet above the fairway. It’s possible to make an Eagle on this hole, but thanks to out of bounds left and a ditch crossing the fairway, a wayward drive can drive to score to a double bogey. The par 4 eighth has two fairways separated by a ditch. Ten, a par 4 , is drivable, but greenside bunkers make it a risky proposition. The eleventh and twelfth are defended by ditches, bunkers and trees. I also think it has one of the great finishing holes—a par 4 with a mostly blind tee shot and a green situated in a natural amphitheater.

The course also has a bit of humor. The par 3 sixth has a bunker in the middle of the green. I wonder what Hogan thought of that. For my part, Riviera is on my list of courses I’d most like to play.

While Hogan had four victories at Riviera, he had only three Los Angeles Open Titles. The records for most victories at the Los Angles Open are held by Macdonald Smith (1928, 1929, 1932, 1934) and Lloyd Mangrum (1949, 1951, 1953, 1956). A complete list of winners follows:

I was pleasantly surprised at how restrained the television coverage was with regard to the celebrities on the course. In my memory, past years have been much more egregrious in allowing the celebs camera mugging time. It actually seemed that many of the celebs were serious about their golf

Part of that may be that golf had its own super-celebrity in the mix, Tiger Woods. Even better: he was racing up the leaderboard, getting himself into a solo 3 at -11, four shots off leader Charlie Wi.

Ken Duke, who’s from Bill Clinton’s hometown of Hope, Arkansas, is in second. Duke, 43, is on Tour by virtue of having won the 2011 Nationwide Tour Championship, but he’s no stranger to the Tour. He first qualified in 2004, but didn’t keep his cut and returned to the Nationwide. He finished at the top of the Nationwide money list in 2006 and returned to the Tour in 2007. He played on Tour in 2008 and 2009, but in that final year finished 158th and returned to the Nationwide for 2010 and 2011.

CBS did a good job, I think, with the slow-motion cameras on the amateurs, comparing their swings to the pros. What was most evident was how many of the amateurs (all of the amateurs?) had over-the-top moves. I am going to work on that.

Here are few of the headliner tee times for the final round of the AT&T National Pro Am.

9:29
Tiger Woods Jupiter, FL 68 68 67 203
Woods/ Romo 65 67 63 195
Phil Mickelson Rancho Santa Fe, CA 70 65 70 205
Mickelson/ McGee 66 59 69 194

9:18
Kevin Na Las Vegas, NV 66 69 70 205
Dustin Johnson Myrtle Beach, SC 63 72 70 205
Brendon Todd Atlanta, GA 67 69 69 205
Todd/ White 63 67 65 195

9:07
Hunter Mahan Colleyville, TX 65 70 70 205
Mahan/ Dundon 61 68 66 195
Bob Estes Austin, TX 67 70 69 206

8:56
Ricky Barnes Phoenix, AZ 70 66 70 206
Barnes/ Belichick 66 60 66 192
Padraig Harrington Dublin, Ireland 68 66 72 206
Harrington/ McManus 57 60 66 183

Tiger And Phil will play together in the next-to-last group at Pebble Beach today. Surprisingly, this is just the ninth time they’ve played together in the final round. Phil is up 4-3-1. Overall, they’ve been paired 29 times. Tiger is up 13-12-4.

Must See Golf TV.

Now if we can just talk the producers into occasionally showing what’s happening in the lead group.

At 2:12, Tiger has moved into a T3 with a -4 performance on the first nine at Pebble.

It would be nice, though, if the TV would cover some of the other golfers. I’ve decided that its not Tiger I can’t stand; its the fawning, sycophantic television producers and announcers. 

UPDATE:

Charlie Wi finished with a -3, going to fifteen under and staying alone in first place. Ken Duke is in second, having gone -5 on the round and -12 overall. Tiger is in third, having shot a -5 and climbed to eleven under. Phil is in a T4 at minus nine with Dustin Johnson, Kevin Na and Brendon Todd.

It looks to me like Tiger and Phil will be paired tomorrow, although as of right now, there’s been no official announcement.

I have a strange fascination with John Daly. So much talent for golf, and so much talent for self-destruction. His ship seem to be temporarily righted, though. He finished solo fourth at last week’s Quatar Masters, and right now is in a T29 at the Omega Dubai Classic following a 67.

Maybe the European Tour is what he needs. There, he is away from the “friends” and associates who in the past have enabled his behaviors. I’m rooting for the big guy.