Second Place Is the First Adulterer

Mickelson's No. 1 quest gets boost, has plenty of backing
By Steve Elling/CBSSports.com Senior Writer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- This particular anecdote might represent the changing of the guard, twice over.

As ever, Phil Mickelson was signing autographs outside the scoring center at The Players Championship, having torn up the course with a 6-under 66 on Saturday to move into contention, and fans clamored three and four deep to get his signature.

Nothing new there. Then Tiger Woods walked past, having just completed another lackluster round.

A boy waiting in line for Mickelson to sign a souvenir, perhaps 7 or 8 years old, yelled out a biting comment to the reigning world numero uno.

"Say goodbye to No. 1, Tiger," the kid said. "Kiss it goodbye."

Double ouch. Not only has Mickelson unseated Woods as the game's most popular player, he's seemingly on the verge of dethroning him as the top dog in the world rankings.

Mickelson gave the kid a tsk-tsk. A less-classy player might have slipped the kid $100.

"Be polite," Mickelson said to the boy.

Phil was anything but with a club in his hand, executing his game plan to near perfection and using the advantage of his morning tee time to attack the course, jumping from T43 to within striking distance of taking over the No. 1 spot for the first time in his career.

"That's the last thing on my mind right now," Mickelson said.

No worries, the rest of us have it covered, dude.

Mickelson, who needs to win and have Woods finish outside the top five to ascend to the top spot in the rankings, has spent a total of 244 weeks in the No. 2 spot in his career. With a comparable round Sunday, he might finally be able to scale the statistical mountain.

You've got to love how ballsy that kid was. I'm guessing the kid's dad had to put him up to it or something. If not someone needs to get that kid on a morning talk show or something for laying down some good smack talk. As for the #1 spot in golf I'm a bit suprised Phil hasn't taken it over yet. How far back does the ranking take into account? It seems to me Tiger has only played in a handful or two touranments in the last two calendar years, and he hasn't played well as of late. During the same time Phil has performed quite well. And do tournaments where Tiger just appears for money count? It seems pretty complicated but in all honesty it's only one of many problems Tiger has to deal with right now. He still has to get the bulging penis out of his neck.