Phoenix braced for weather woes

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February 3, 2011

The PGA Tour season is in danger of running into its first weather-disruped event of the year in Phoenix this week.

The PGA Tour season is in danger of running into its first weather-disruped event of the year in Phoenix this week.
Wednesday’s pro-am had to be cancelled because of frost and the forecast for the opening two rounds was for even colder conditions.
Tour referee Slugger White said: “It doesn’t look good tomorrow morning, it’s supposed to be colder and it might be even colder on Friday.
“I’ve talked to people that grew up here and they’ve never seen anything like this.
“Obviously we’ve had frost delays before, but usually that’s an hour or so. We’ve got 20 to 30mph winds out there with a wind-chill factor of about 30 right now.”
Phil Mickelson is the top-ranked player in the field and he was looking on the bright side.
“It’s supposed to be beautiful on Sunday and the weekend and hopefully we’ll get a great turn-out,” he said.
“One of the things I’ve done this year is switching golf balls in cold weather. I’ve been going to a much softer, much lower compression ball; it helped me last week and it’s going to help me this week as well.
“When it gets cold the ball doesn’t compress as well and when it hits the face the face actually moves and the misses get exaggerated.
“This ball doesn’t do that. It compresses very easily so I hit it a lot straighter in cold conditions.”
Mickelson has revealed that one of his career targets is to get to 50 victories.
“I’m 12 away,” he said. “I really think that’s an attainable goal and maybe in a short period of time.
“I just think it has a magic ring to it and to be able to do it in this day and age would be a great accomplishment.”
The major championships remain high up on his wishlist too.
“The Masters is a tournament that I just love and I’d love to keep trying to add to the three victories I’ve had there,” he added.
“Also it would be something if I could somehow get a win in the US and British Opens and get a career slam.
“I think the US Open I’ll have a number of opportunities. The British will be a big challenge for me.”
He has only ever had one top-10 finish, coming third at Royal Troon in 2004.