Mickelson irked by Westwood TPC snub

Mickelson is baffled

Phil Mickelson has added his voice to the growing chorus of American disapproval over Lee Westwood’s decision to skip The Players Championship at Sawgrass this week.

The World No.4 was baffled as to why the Englishman would choose to pass up the PGA Tour’s flagship event of the season and golf’s unofficial fifth major.

“Everyone has got their own personal deal but I just disagree with the thought process on this,” said Mickelson. “I feel like since I’ve been out on the PGA Tour this is one of the tournaments that I would like to win the most right along with the majors.”

And Mickelson, who could become World No.1 for the first time in his career with a win this week, continued his rant, claiming victories are more of an incentive to him than the world rankings.

“I think the most important thing is to win tournaments and to compete in a tournament like this week, play against the best players. There’s a lot more satisfaction over beating the best players in the world on a challenging test like this than there is to say you’re ranked ‘X’ on the world rankings.”

Yet had Mickelson and the rest of our American cousins checked Westwood’s schedule at the start of the season, they would not all be rushing into a frenzy at once.

As a non-member of the US Tour, Westwood was restricted to compete in just three regular PGA Tour events outside the majors and WGC events.

And having already competed at the Honda Classic and Houston Open in preparation for The Masters, as well as declaring himself eligible for his title defence of the FedEx St Jude before the US Open in June, the World No.1 was left with no alternative but to cut Sawgrass from his schedule.

Rory McIlroy also pulled out of The Players, citing his dislike of the Sawgrass track as his reasons.