Phoenix Open:Last October he slipped from second to third. On January 8th it was from third to fourth and this Monday it was from fourth to fifth. Phil Mickelson has been on the slide in the world rankings - and if he is not on song in this week's Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona, there is every chance the Masters champion will drop from fifth to sixth.
Having been passed in turn by Jim Furyk, Adam Scott and Ernie Els, he finds his ranking average only 0.004 points better than that of Retief Goosen - and if the South African can follow up his win in Qatar with success in Dubai then Mickelson can expect to fall further. That is because Tiger Woods is in the Middle East with Goosen, and his presence boosts the number of ranking points on offer there.
To a certain extent, Mickelson has only himself to blame. After last September's Ryder Cup he did not play again until the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic two weeks ago - and by returning with a 45th place finish there, followed by 51st at last week's Buick Invitational, he has hardly put the spotlight on himself.
As well as trying out different drivers and putters, Mickelson admitted last week: "I was just rustier than I thought I would be."
In contrast, of course, Woods came back from over a month off to win his seventh successive US Tour title at Torrey Pines. Whereas Woods has had nothing worse than a second-place finish in strokeplay events all around the world since missing the cut at the US Open last June - his first event back after the death of his father - Mickelson has not even managed a top-10 finish since blowing his chance of a third successive major win there with a double bogey on the final hole.
The left-hander will at least be expected to put that right over the next four days, because Vijay Singh and Geoff Ogilvy are the only other members of the world's top 10 in Phoenix. Singh won the season-opener in Hawaii and he, like Goosen, could climb above Mickelson in the rankings. Six months ago it would have been hard to imagine Mickelson as only the seventh best player in the world - but it is close to being a reality now.
American Charles Howell III, second twice this season in his first three PGA Tour starts, plans to take a leaf out of Woods's book this week. Howell chased the world number one hard at last week's Buick Invitational outside San Diego before having to settle for the 10th runner-up spot of his career.
"If you look at Tiger as he came down the stretch on Sunday, he got into some holes where he was really just trying to get the ball in the fairway," Howell said.
"He almost went into a three-quarter or a punchy-type shot. That's a lot more instinctive than it is mechanics, and that's the direction I'm slowly trying to get to."
Howell blew a two-shot lead with nine holes remaining at the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier this month, a bitter experience for him to process compared to last week's Buick Invitational. "The Sony stung a lot more because I didn't play well on the back nine, and the whole week I had played the back nine better than the front nine," he said, referring to his tie for second behind fellow American Paul Goydos. "I really liked my position with nine holes to play there and just didn't play well coming in."
American Chris DiMarco will be making his first appearance on the 2007 PGA Tour, having competed on the "Gulf Swing" of the European Tour for the last two weeks. American JB Holmes defends the title he won by seven strokes last year as a PGA Tour rookie, coasting home with a five-under-par 66 on the Stadium Course at the TPC of Scottsdale.
