Playoffs may provide big stage for showdown

Early in the final-round telecast, NBC used a shot of the classic tabletop game "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots" to set up an anticipated slugfest between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Nothing tells you a first-class sporting event is about to unfold better than watching TV people rely on puppets to make a point.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the Deutsche Bank Championship. The tournament turned out better than anyone had a right to expect. With pride and a boatload of playoff points on the line, Mickelson knocked Woods' block off with a blistering front nine and slipped enough punches on the back to hold on.

One win may not a rivalry make, but this one could make tuning into the final two events of the FedEx Cup playoff worthwhile. Forget trying to keep track of the points race and format; focus on the Woods-Mickelson dynamic instead. That could have a much bigger impact on the game.

"I loved this finish, I loved being able to play three rounds with the best player of arguably all time and certainly the best player in the world today, and to be able to come out on top," Mickelson said, "feels great."

It must have felt pretty good, too, wherever PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem happened to be sitting at the conclusion of Monday's round.

The FedEx Cup is his pet project, and like the season-ending NASCAR Nextel Cup points chase it resembles, the idea is to keep fans from changing channels once college football and the NFL are playing for keeps in the same weekend time slots. It didn't help viewership, of course, when Woods skipped the first of the four FedEx Cup tournaments. And it might have said something about how he viewed his competition, since Woods' self-imposed "first-round bye" effectively spotted his rivals a head start.

But that's Tiger. He wasn't going to be lured into the grind of playing four tournaments in a row at the end of the season, no matter how lucrative Finchem made the purses. And though Woods wouldn't say so publicly, he probably planned to make his point by winning the FedEx Cup after competing in just three. That's where Mickelson stepped in.

Tiger in pinstripes

The galleries in suburban Boston were packed with Red Sox fans who know a thing or two about playing second fiddle. To them, Woods might as well have been wearing a Yankee cap. He has nearly twice as many tour wins (59-32) and more than four times as many majors (13-3).

Any chance Mickelson would make a further dent in either category this season appeared to vanish when he injured his left wrist shortly after winning The Players Championship in May. Plus, only one of those previous tour wins had come after August -- and none came on the three occasions when Mickelson was paired with Woods (2001 Masters, 2003 Buick Invitational, 2005 Ford Championship) in the final round.

Asked whether that last fact made this win sweeter, Mickelson didn't hesitate.

"I think it does," he said, "yeah."

Sweeter, too, because Lefty recently hired swing guru Butch Harmon, who once held the same job in the Woods' camp. Harmon also helped Mickelson stay loose by telling him to look out for some of Woods' more revealing, but little-noticed mannerisms.

"Butch told me a couple things that he likes to do, and I kind of was watching for it," Mickelson said earlier in the tournament, "and I chuckled throughout the round when I'd pick up on it."

Normally, Woods goes out of his way to punish opponents who say anything beyond "nice shot." But for all the history between the two, he still respects Mickelson as the one player capable of rising to his level.

"I think it was fun for both of us," Woods said. "It was fun for the gallery. You know, it's good, probably great for the tournament."

A challenging year

And not just for the two remaining FedEx Cup events as well. If the 2007 season proves memorable beyond Woods' customary trophy grab (one major and five wins -- two more than anyone else; an almost certain lock of Player of the Year), it will be because of the ones that got away. He couldn't catch up to Zach Johnson at the Masters or Angel Cabrera at the U.S. Open and his lone major win at the PGA Championship was longer on drama than it needed to be.

The saying is that every boxer has a fight plan until he gets punched in the face. Most golfers had a plan how to play Woods in the final round of a tournament, only to find themselves overwhelmed by the craziness of playing alongside him or buried beneath an early barrage of birdies. Thanks to the success of Johnson, Cabrera and now Mickelson, some golfers might fight back the next time Woods lands a haymaker early in the final round.

"Now the next step is to try to hopefully go head to head in a major," Mickelson said. "We don't get paired very often in majors, and hopefully next year in '08 we'll have a chance to do that."

Jim Litke is a sports columnist for The Associated Press.