Looking Back (FEB. 17) | MICKELSON COLLAPSES AT NISSAN OPEN
Just one week after scoring a five-shot victory at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, suggesting he was over his notorious meltdown at last year's U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Phil Mickelson showed he still has the propensity for an occasional collapse. Up four shots heading into the back-nine on Sunday, Mickelson missed a two-foot putt for par on the 13th hole and a four-foot birdie putt on 16 before failing to convert a bid for par on 18 that would have sealed the Nissan Open victory.
Instead, Lefty was forced into a sudden-death playoff with Charles Howell III, who like Mickelson finished 16 under par through 72 holes. In the end, it was Howell who stole the title by saving par on all three holes in the playoff, securing his first win on the PGA Tour in over four years and the second tour victory of his career.
Mickelson's collapse was reminiscent of his 72nd-hole meltdown at Winged Foot, as once again, his driver let him down in a pressure situation. Still, Lefty has roughly a month and a half to regroup before he will defend his victory at the Masters, the first major on the 2007 PGA schedule.
Looking Ahead (FEB. 24-25) | NESCAC BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT FINAL FOUR
For the first time in the program's history, the women's basketball team is set to compete in the final weekend of the NESCAC Tournament.
The Jumbos recorded their first-ever playoff win last weekend, topping the Middlebury Panthers 65-50 behind 17 points from senior co-captain and NESCAC Player of the Week Laura Jasinski. That win earned the team a berth in the tournament's final weekend, as the Jumbos will now head to Brunswick, Maine, where the Bowdoin Polar Bears will host the final three games of the conference tournament.
Bowdoin, the nation's No. 1 team with a 24-1 record, and 9-0 conference clip, will be heavily favored over fourth-seeded Williams as those two teams face off in the early game Saturday afternoon. After that, the Jumbos will take on the Bates Bobcats, who have reached the tournament's final round in all of the last four years, losing each time to Bowdoin, the six-time defending champion.
This time, however, it's possible that the Jumbos (17-7, 8-1 NESCAC) will have the upper hand on the third-seeded Bobcats (15-9, 6-3). Tufts cruised to victory earlier this season in the first meeting between the two squads, beating Bates 72-64 behind 17 points from junior forward Jenna Gomez and 16 from senior guard Valerie Krah. The Bobcats shouldn't be overlooked, however. Not only do they have experience going deep in the conference playoffs, but their squad boasts the league's third-leading scorer, sophomore forward Val Beckwith.
