Phil Mickelson In The Bag: Phoenix Open Winning Clubs

Phil Mickelson, after shooting an opening round 11-under-par 60, just missed out on the PGA Tour’s 72-hole record, on his way to winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

The American’s 28-under total of 256 was two strokes worse than the 254 set by Tommy Armour III in the 2003 Texas Open.

The wire-to-wire win moves Mickelson to third in FedExCup standings and from world number 22 up to number 10.

“It’s an important one for me, because it’s been a while since I won, been a while since I’ve been in contention,” said Mickelson. “I was certainly nervous heading into today. I think the thing I’m most excited about was the way I was able to regain control of my thoughts after a few shots early on that I didn’t care for.”

The story of thr week was Mickelson’s missed a chance for a 59 in the first round when his birdie putt on the 18th horseshoed the hole and stayed out.

He followed that with rounds of 65 and 64 to take a six-stroke lead into the final round, eventually winning by four from Brantd Snedeker.

“I think that sets up the tone for the rest of the year, because I really started to play well,” Mickelson added. “But for me, the rest of the year took a turn on Tuesday when I got my new driver. It just changed my whole deal.”

Mickelson was playing the new Callaway RAZR Fit Xtreme, and was 12th in the field in driving distance, with his longest drive measuring 358 yards.

The left-hander said: “This RAZR Fit Xtreme is one of the hottest drivers I’ve seen as far as keeping the spin down, easy to hit. It spins so low that I can have more loft on the club, making it easier to hit. This has got to be good for every player I would think, but it sure as heck is good for me.”

Mickelson also led the field for GIR at 88.89% with his RAZR X Muscleback irons.

Runner-up Snedeker said: “Sometimes you have to tip your hat and say, `Phil played unbelievable and deserved to win. That’s kind of what this week was all about.”

The crowd on Sunday was estimated at 58,791 for a weekly total of 525,821, short of the record of 538,356 set in 2008.

Here are the clubs that were in Mickelson’s bag:

Driver: Callaway RAZR Fit Xtreme Driver (9.5 degrees) with a Mitsubishi Rayon Fubuki K. 059 prototype model 70X shaft.
3-wood: TaylorMade RocketBallz (13-degree, bent to 11.5 degrees).
5-wood: Titleist 980F 5-wood (17-degree) with a Graphite Design PM 902 shaft.
Irons: (4-PW): Callaway RAZR X Muscleback with True Temper Project X 7.0 shafts.
Wedges: Callaway JAWS Wedges (52 degrees, 60 degrees, 64 degrees).
Putter: Odyssey Black Series Tour Design #9.
Ball: Callaway HEXBlack Tour.