Having withdrawn from the US PGA Championship, the reigning champion seems painfully aware of his pariah status
In his newly published and excellent book Tiger and Phil: Golf’s Most Fascinating Rivalry, Bob Harig describes the scene in the scoring tent at the conclusion of the 2002 US PGA Championship. That Rich Beem makes no worse than a bogey at the 72nd hole ensures a surprise one-stoke victory over Tiger Woods. Fred Funk looks on, bemused, as Woods bellows: “Yes.” Prompted to clarify his obscure outburst, Woods says: “That’s Rich Beem one, Phil Mickelson zero.”
Lefty remained without a major title. The scale of antipathy between Mickelson and Woods was illustrated by the latter’s strange display of emotion.
