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Agree , Phil the dill. He has had a 'great' off season - NOT. He has hardly shed a pound / kilo in weight and has played very poorly on his return. Surely he owes his fans a bit more than what he has done so far. I find it very hard to believe that he went so long without touching a club , but if this is true then Phil needs to have a rapid change in attitude because many players will pass him in the early part of the season. This guy is quite simply letting himself (and his fans) down by not doing the work required. His natural skill will takeover at some stage and he will be prominent in some events , but really how good would this guy be if he 'did the yards' !!

The point is this...

If Phil feels that he is the man who can consistantly give Tiger a run week in and week out, he can't start the season off as unprepared as he is. We all know when Tiger comes out, he's ready. And that's once again showing this week as he appears to be in top form.

Until someone starts taking things as serious as Tiger does in terms of preparation, his dominance will continue.

I cant see Phil winning any tounraments this year. Its over for him

I'll start worrying about Phil when he misses the cut at The Masters. All of this handwringing is way premature, IMO. To be brutally frank, these are 'nothing' events. Phil is Phil, and while it would've been nice if he'd bolted out of the gate strongly, the season doesn't really get going until The Players. He looks to have lost a few pounds to me BTW, but there is nothing that he nor anyone else could do (short of homicide) that would challenge Tiger's dominance, IMO. Balancing golf & family will be Tiger's next challenge and I fully expect him to meet it as successfully as he has all of the others.

I said a similar thing in post #9. Must be that "great minds" thing...

Like others, I'd like to see Phil go all out and provide Tiger an alltime great challenger...but, Phil's still in his prime, has almost 30 wins and 3 majors in the last three years. That's pretty darned good and if he wants to hang with the wife and kids rather than golf over the holidays, more power to him. While it's not exactly Jack/Arnie, these two have a pretty good track record together, and I suspect it'll continue (at least at Augusta, if not at the other major venues) for the next few years. I thought Phil would win 6-7 majors once he won that first one, and I'll stick by that. He's not done by any stretch, folks.

That changes starting this season. The Players Championship has been moved to May.

I forgot about that. I'll have to rethink this. Pebble is always fun to watch, even though it's a pro-am, just because it's at Pebble...so I'll go with that.

So did I in #14
And to Sunny:
Phils played in 2 tourneys: Done? Its premature to end a man's career just yet

I too agree it's too early in the season to judge, but I also feel after he has gotten his majors, his heart isn't in it like it used to be. I guess Tiger has spoiled us with the competitive spirit of trying to win each and every event rather than using some events for getting back into the routine of things.

There is a price to be paid to be the best at whatever you do. Being naturally talented will get you a long way but if you don't have that buring passion to be the best and back that up with a lot of hard work you aren't going to reach the top of the heap.

Personally, I think Phil is very comfortable winning an occasional golf tournament, raking in the advertising dollars and livnig the life of wealthy man. I don't think he really has the "Fire" to elevate his game to take on Tiger.

I also think his faux pas as the U.S. Open is going to have a permanent affect on his career. Prior to that tournament he was playing with the confidence to really make his mark on the game. I think a win would have really fired him up enough where he felt himself a legitimate challegener to Tiger. I don't see him having that same bravado anymore.

Ce_me_golf, I have to agree with you.

Ive got an idea:
Lets set up a "Phil Tournament Watch" Thread. The comments you guys are making will be better served on a week in week out basis. Lets judge him at the end of this season to see just how messed up his career is. We can keep this thread alive and compare the comments made now and the comments at the end of the season, and see what bandwagon everyone jumps on. This is Tournament number two for Phil. As I said before, Its premature at this point to count him out.

Handwringers!!!! OY VEH!!!!

Your ideal sounds fair. After all we still have a ton of golf yet to play this season. It will be interesting to see if and when Phil starts to pick up his level of play. It should be noted that for the last several years Phil has made a strong showing at Doral, which this year is a WGC event.

With Tiger around, Phil is not going to reach the top anyways. However, he has plenty of passion, there is no player that has more preperation for Major Championships than Phil, and he plays and tries hard in plenty of normal events as well.

Are you kidding me, Phil doesen't have the "fire"? If having kids and a family life means not having as much "fire," then it looks like Tiger is falling off the face of the map soon. Clearly all Phil wants to do is test his game against the best. He doesen't just say he likes to take on Tiger, you can see the determination in his eyes every time hes in a group with Tiger. Having all the "fire" in the world may be completely useless against Tiger, because he is just too good and lucky for anyone to beat, that doesen't mean Phil is lacking it. Phil has won 3 majors the last 3 seasons (compared to 0 the previous 10), only Tiger has bettered him, so saying he hasn't elevated his game, or is lacking some motivation is a completely bogus assertion.

This is the big pile of nonsense. Everything that happend at the US Open is media hyped, Phil forgot about it 8 months ago. One mess-up at a major is not going to shake Phil's confidence, if anything it will motivate him more. As to elevating his game, he went to Rick Smith and Dave Pelz 3 years ago to do just that, and he has stuck with it and it has payed off. He is also started weight training last season for the first time. Two bad finishes out of the gate is not typical for Phil, but its completely irrelevant when trying to predict long-term results.

Maybe if Phil missed every cut on the West Coast swing I would be concerned, but drawing conclusions the way you and others are doing is completely wreckless.

I think most people who have said some non-flattering things about Phil (including myself) are not trying to outright 'bash' him, but are frustrated as fans who notice his ability, yet he doesn't seem to put the effort in that would allow him to best utilize it. For instance, when I read he was 'testing the square driver for the first time in competition' I thought exactly the same thing that Andrew Magee said on the Golf Channel tonite on that discussion program: "...why the heck is he 'testing' a driver in competition?"....that's something that should have been worked out well before hand, and when he arrives for a tournament, he uses the best equipment he's got and has figured out how to hit fairways. His fairway percentage was about as bad as I've ever seen his.