Chuckie Three Stix wins at RIV where Phil jetted back and forth and Tiger was missed on a simply beautiful SoCal weekend of sunshine and Hollywood nights!

Pacific Palisades, CA. – The crowd on Saturday was slightly over 44,000 on a brilliant, sunny, hot afternoon at the famed Riviera Country Club in West Los Angeles. That number didn’t scrape the record of 57,000 who attended in 2000 when Tiger Woods ruled golf as he does today, but Black Jesus chose not to play, so that 20% factor was lost - and it showed. Still, a star-studded field featuring 7 of the Top 10 in the world were on hand, and by Sunday the leaderboard was looking like a major; Els, Mickelson, Howell, Garcia, Allenby, and for brief moments, Singh and Toms, too.

Philly Mick was cruising along with a three shot lead when his luck ran out. On Friday Lefty hit a tee shot on the marvelous, short, par 4, 10^th that hit the cart path left of the green and bounced toward the 13^th fairway only to be stopped by a branch that couldn’t hold up a wren. He escaped with par. He bombed a drive of 348 yards on the tight, 480 yard, par 4, 12^th, hitting a wedge for his approach to twenty feet - into the wind! That’s not right. So the Golf Gods weren’t pleased and his two-foot par putt horseshoed out of the hole for bogey. Too bad. On Sunday, his approach to the par 4, 13^th was way left, hitting the “Bogie Tree,” where Humphrey Bogart used to sit and watch golf, and ricocheted onto the green where he made par saving at least one shot, most likely two. After all this luck he was still in need of par on the last hole to win. His drive was lame and his chip came up 17 feet short, which he missed, allowing Charles Howell III (Chuckie Three Stix) to force a playoff that Howell won on the third extra hole, his second PGA Tour win and first since 2000.

So the jet setter Philly Mick, who flew his own jet daily back and forth to Riviera, practiced in the morning at the Callaway Golf testing center and appeared to treat it as no big deal, just something he likes to do and spend more time with his family. I'm just flying into Santa Monica," Mickelson said Wednesday on the Riviera driving range, prior to his afternoon tee time in the Nissan pro-am. "It's not taking too long. ... It's only about an hour commute door to door. It's not bad at all. And it gives me a chance to practice at home on some of my drills at the facilities that I'm used to working on." Hah! Take that Tiger Woods! Phil might not be able to beat Tiger on the golf course, but he wants to let everyone know he’s got toys too! Speaking of cool toys, he might want to get a driver that works on the 72^nd hole of tournaments he leads.

Hey, I know he won the week before at Pebble Beach by five shots when the field folded like bleachers on Monday morning, where his Sunday threesome included such stalwarts as Kevin Sutherland and John Mallinger. Still, a win is a win on the PGA Tour. And he has won 30 of them, with three majors. And like the greats, he is sounding like one, showing you he means business even in defeat, although it might be another “I can shake it off” kind of thing. Following his playoff loss Sunday Lefty spent some time with the media, a chore he doesn’t relish and more and more blows off. “On a good note, it's better to get those out of the way early and see if I can eliminate things for the upcoming majors," said the highest paid pilot.

He let this one slip away although Three Stix played a great Sunday round much like he did at Torrey Pines only to lose to Tiger. Lefty still says he loves to compete against Tiger and was disappointed that Tiger wasn’t at Riviera. For a course that he has few good results on, Lefty pulled off the Monterey-L.A. exacta, which is impressive. But equally impressive was how Howell handled the pressure, making two great putts for par on the tedious 18^th, one in regulation to force Phil to make par, and then another in the playoff when he sank (as David Feherty would call it), a Lanny Wadkins – “A nasty little five-footer.”

Following Howell around Torrey Pines on the final round of the Buick Invitational last month, I noticed he was more confident and was winging beautifully. “He has been really striking the ball well this year,” said his caddy Jimmie Johnson, a long time caddy that won a few events with Nick Price. You remember him? “And now he feels like he should win.” Howell has been practicing and playing rounds with his good friend Tiger at their home course at Isleworth and it appears to be paying off. “At Torrey Pines that was the first time I was ever paired with Tiger in the final round,” said the young man from Augusta. “And it’s just really hard to beat that guy. I watched what he did to win that golf tournament and learned a few things from it.” I’d say so, Three Stix.

Howell now finds himself on top of the newly instituted Fedex Cup for the second time this season (he also led after the Hope). “That’s nice but I would prefer it to be on top in September,” he said smiling. “I have always said that Riviera is my favorite golf course next to Augusta National. To win here is very special.” And that is something that Nicklaus and Woods have yet to do. Oh, and Mickelson.