Phil Mickelson is a tall, well-scrubbed young man, one who wears his hair conventionally neat under a visor when he is at work. He is polite and very good at his job, the paradigm of the American boy next door, as long as you happen to live in a millionaires' row He would be a welcome addition to any family. But what would mummy say if their daughter brought Ian Poulter home? The ying and yang of golfing personalities came together in game number eight yesterday, the apple pie and bombe surprise of the circuit. The third member of the group, the darkly clothed Trevor Immelman, would have looked sombre enough outside this company. "In most groups I'm pretty much the anonymous person," the South African, who is nicely settled at six under, said. "Ian's got flamboyance in the way he dresses and the way he plays."Poulter, who likes a chat and wears pants loud enough to burst an eardrum, is that rare combination All trousers as well as mouth. But it's only a matter of time."Wie will now return to matching her unique talent against the female professionals, another group of unfortunates she so nearly humbled when leading the US Women's Open with a round to go.
Europe is given its chance to size up the 6ft Hawaiian in the next fortnight as she competes in the Evian Masters next week in Les Bains, and then the British Women's Open at Sunningdale.. "You know, golf has seen some phenomenal changes in the last 30 years, but Michelle?" he said "I so wanted her to do it, it would have been great. "I just can't believe any 15-year-old, especially a girl, could be doing what she's doing I can't fathom it."He was not the only one Norman was equally open-mouthed. It had been an 11-shot swing to Tiger and he had been utterly humiliated Hensby was in the best of company here yesterday.. The Open, though, has been particularly barren territory, perhaps because of the huge demand placed on him by a domestic gallery.The joint expectation has been a crushing force on Montgomerie's aspirations.In 15 efforts at the Open the best he has ever managed is tied eighth at Turnberry in 1994. "I would be amazed if this was a 15-year-old boy playing in men's tournamants and coming within a few strokes of making the cut in a PGA Tour event."Mickleson was alluding to Wie's performance in last week's John Deere Classic and was impressed enough to declare that Wie is a better player than he was as a 17-year-old.
"When I was 17 I couldn't come close to making a cut," he said. But here at St Andrews, players like Phil Mickelson and Norman were queuing up to praise her efforts in qualifying for the final-64 matchplay stages in the first place and then, heroically, seeing off three older, male rivals to go through to the last eight."I think it's very difficult to put into perspective what Michelle Wie is doing," said Mickelson. The 20-year-old did not deserve to take on the persona of golf's biggest bully but by hammering Wie 5 and 4 in the quarter-finals of the US Public Amateur Links Championship at Shaker Run in Lebanon (the equivalent of a 5-0 drubbing at football) the college boy from Utah did so anyway. Thus the tantalising prospect of Wie storming the gates of Augusta National by earning the right to play at next year's Masters disappeared in 14 short holes. But still there was widespread praise here for the 15-year-old's incredible exploits in Ohio, with Greg Norman even going so far as claiming: "It's only a matter of time until she does it" Clay Ogden might not agree.
