PGA Woods, Mickelson still top picks in Tour Championship

Two years ago they battled for the title with Mickelson coming from behind to win by one stroke.
ATLANTA (AP) -- Phil Mickelson isn't the defending champion at the Tour Championship, although it sure feels that way.
Especially at East Lake Golf Club.
Mickelson didn't play in the Tour Championship last year in Houston because he wanted to stay home with his newborn daughter.
The last time he joined the PGA Tour's top 30 players on the money list at what amounts to an All-Star game was at East Lake two years ago.
And he took down the game's biggest star -- Tiger Woods.
Trailing Woods and Vijay Singh by a stroke entering the final round, Mickelson closed with a 4-par-under 66 for a one-stroke victory.
It was only the second time Woods failed to win a PGA Tour event when he had at least a share of the 54-hole lead.
The only other time was at the 1996 Quad City Classic, when a 20-year-old Woods playing his third tournament as a pro was defeated by Ed Fiori.
"To end his streak was not something I was thinking about, but certainly to beat him when he is in the lead is something very difficult to do," Mickelson said Tuesday.
30 player field
They are the two main characters in a cast of 30 gathered at soggy East Lake for the season-ending Tour Championship, which starts Thursday.
There are 10 players making their debut this week in the Tour Championship, six of them -- Charles Howell III, John Rollins, Jerry Kelly, K.J. Choi, Len Mattiace and Chris Riley -- among the record 17 first-time winners this year.
Still, the focus is on Woods and Mickelson.
Woods already has clinched the money title and every other significant award for the fourth consecutive year.
Mickelson wrapped up No. 2 on the money list for the third straight year, although he was surprised to hear he has won at least $4 million every year since 2000.
That's not the issue.
Mickelson still hasn't won a major title, the standard of greatness in golf.
He has said all year long that he won't back away from his aggressive style, even in the majors.
That's not how Jack Nicklaus got it done when he won most of his record 18 majors.
Mickelson doesn't buy it -- not as long as Woods is around.
"Look at the way we've always thought the greatest player in the game attacked a major, which was Jack Nicklaus," Mickelson said. "He always said he would wait and wait and let other people fall back, and he would be right there to get the trophy at the end.
"That doesn't happen with Tiger anymore. He doesn't make those mistakes. You have to go attack and make birdies and play some exceptional golf to win championships in which he's in the field."
Two years ago
It worked at the Tour Championship two years ago.
Playing in the twosome ahead of Woods, Mickelson was 4 under on the front nine and pulled ahead with a birdie on the par-5 15th.
Woods failed to match Mickelson's birdie on the hole to fall behind, then took a bogey on the 17th hole by hitting from the bunker to shin-high grass left of the green.
"I was forced to be aggressive on the last couple of holes and hit a bad tee shot on 17," Woods said.
"Yeah, I made a couple of mistakes, missed a few putts. I didn't play the back nine that well. That's probably what cost me."
Now, if Lefty can only get that situation right in the majors.
Mickelson was loosely in contention twice this year -- four strokes behind at the Masters and five strokes behind at the U.S. Open going into the last round.
Woods won his second straight green jacket when several contenders made critical mistakes trying to catch him. At Bethpage, he closed with a 72 -- his first of eight major titles that he won with a final round over par.
Woods said he's not always at his best in the final round, despite a 30-4 record worldwide.
"It's a lot more than you might think," he said. "I haven't played particularly well on Sunday. But all you need to do is just keep holding it together, keep making your pars, and hopefully someone else will make a mistake. That's usually how it happens.
"Some days, I'll go out there and play great. There are a lot more times when you don't really have it and you just need to gut it out."