Delight sprinkled with dignity

FOR once the man in the black hat turned out to be the good guy.

Okay, Tiger Woods was also wearing a black Nike cap but unlike family man Phil Mickelson, he will never again be taken into the hearts of the American public.

The 2010 Masters will be remembered as the freak show that turned into the family hour. It was a victory for dignity over defiance.

As a defeated Woods snarled at reporters before heading down Magnolia Lane in the back seat of a gray SUV with his hat off and his head down, Amy Mickelson quietly slipped under the ropes and past the scrum and waited for her man.

It was the first time she had set foot on a golf course since she began her treatment for breast cancer nearly 11 months ago and she did not feel up to walking 18 holes at Augusta National.

Instead, she watched the final round action from the home the family had rented for the week.

“I had my blanket and my jammies on and I was ready to watch every shot,” she told the PGA Tour’s Helen Ross. “I’ve been trying to stay at the house and rest so that I wouldn’t get sick.

“If I had come out here, it probably would have been too much. I wanted Phil to focus on winning the Masters this week ... and not worry if I was sick or out here walking and wasn’t doing well.”

Her plans changed the moment Mickelson rolled in a 20 footer for birdie on the 12th. She started crying and prepared to gather up her family and head to the course.

“That’s when I kind of saw him take control,” she said long after her husband had been helped into the green jacket for the third time in his career.

Before she left the house with her daughters Sophia and Amanda and son Evan, she watched Mickelson pull off his daredevil shot from the pine needles on the par-five 13th they call Azalea. It’s his favourite hole and Amy knew that Phil was never going to be talked out of going for the green by blasting his ball through a narrow gap in the pine trees.

“I like that in him,” she said with a smile. “I know sometimes people say it’s a mistake or why did he do that but I don’t. I believe in him and I’ve seen shots like that win him so many tournaments. ... I knew he wasn’t coming out today to try to finish second. There were birdies out there. You could hear the roars.”

Before Sunday’s win, many felt that 2010 would be a momentous season for Mickelson.

But as Woods hid from the world after being exposed as a serial philanderer, a series of sex scandals forever tarnishing his image as the world’s best and most clean cut sportsman, Mickelson combined tour life with helping his wife through as series painful cancer treatments.

His performances so far this year had been poor, yet he had the guts to triumph at the end, just days his wife had left a Houston hospital.

“This has been a very special day and a very special week,” Mickelson said. “And to have Amy and my kids here to share it with, I can’t put into words. It just feels incredible, especially given what we’ve been through in the last year.”

If Woods had hoped that he could rehabilitate his image with a carefully stage managed return at Augusta, his plan backfired.

Yes, he nodded and tipped the peak of his cap to the fans. But having vowed on Monday to change his boorish on-course behaviour he was throwing clubs and berating himself in colourful language before the week was out and did himself no favours with his post round press interview either.

Asked if he could sum up his week and his return to golf after a self-imposed, five-month absence, he snarled: “Yeah, I finished fourth. Not what I wanted. I wanted to win this tournament.”

And his emotional outbursts?

“I think people are making way too much of a big deal of this thing,” Woods said. “I was not feeling good. I hit a big snipe off the first hole and I don’t know how people can think I should be happy about that.”

Few will forget the look of contempt that Woods gave partner Mickelson in the 2004Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills, when the left-hander hit a woeful shot up against the out of bounds fence to hand Europe a tight foursomes match at the 18th.

One columnist compared the two: if Woods was steak, Mickelson was salad. Six years down the road, we now know who has more class and dignity. And a green jacket to boot.

n More than 15,000 golfers who purchased a Callaway Big Bertha Diablo Edge, FT-Tour or FT-iZ driver also expect to get a cheque thanks to Mickelson’s Masters win.

A joint Golfsmith and Callaway promotion promised a refund on drivers purchased between March 18 and April 7 if Mickelson won the 2010 Masters. The refund is expected to cost the company $1 million (€736,000).