Phil Mickelson is coming back to the TPC at River Highlands. Can I just scream. I love Phil Mickelson. No athlete in sports gets me more pumped up to watch a sporting event than lefty. For me, it all starts with how he addresses the ball and the game: From the left side...aggressively. That is how I play. The only differences between me and Phil are the following: He's won three majors. I have beaten my one-armed stepfather twice. He "makes" millions playing golf. I "spend" a few hundred bucks playing golf. He chokes once in a while. I choke all the time. He hits it over the tree's. I hit it into the tree's.

Seriously, I do feel a connection with Mickelson. He's a family man. I love that his wife and kids are always around. And what other pro athlete signs every single last autograph? He is simply a good guy and watching him win in Cromwell twice solidified my passion for watching him play.

But my love for watching Mickelson play golf went to an entirely different level when he won the 2004 Masters. My wife and I had just arrived home that Sunday from the hospital with our third child Katie. She was born on Good Friday three years ago and we brought here home on Easter Sunday. Somehow she survived her Dad's screams as Mickelson won the Masters. Watching him overcome countless years of frustration in Majors was something I'll never forget. It was almost as good as having little Katie home with her brother and sister.

Lastly, I've got to mention Florida basketball and Billy Donovan...masters of their universe after a second straight national title. I covered Billy Donovan's press conference in 1994 when he was introduced as a 28 year old head coach at Marshall.
It also turns out that our grandparents were best friends on Long Island many years ago. So it has been fun for me, albeit from a distance, to watch his career grow. Two titles at Florida at the age of 41 is amazing. Billy Donovan deserves it. No one in college basketball works any harder.

Now I have to go. I need to figure out how to beat my stepfather for a third time. I need to keep up with that other lefty.