Phil Mickelson's decision to skip last year's Tour Championship was perceived by some as an unexcused absence -- how dare the world's third-ranked player choose trick-or-treating with his kids over a tournament where last place pays $105,300! When the tour gathers next week in Atlanta to wrap up the 2006 season, Mickelson again will stay home, having played in his final event two months ago before serving as America's lead goat at the Ryder Cup.

A ton of evidence suggests Lefty never recovered from his 72nd-hole meltdown at the U.S. Open, which pardons him from the dough rake at East Lake and justifies the five-month break he will take before returning at the 2007 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. With a pair of victories before Winged Foot, including the Masters, and seven top-10s in 13 starts, Mickelson was nicely positioned to win Player of the Year honors for the first time. He had won three of the previous nine majors, muting everyone who questioned his moxie in golf's biggest tournaments.

Everything changed June 18. Philly Mick's collapse seems to have prompted Tiger Woods' latest barrage of dominance, as if the master opportunist knew it would take months for his most formidable rival to get over the loss. And it has. Mickelson's best finish in five events after the U.S. Open was a T-16. Despite all the on-site preparation at Winged Foot, the twilight loops around the back nine after playing in the Barclays Classic and the pages of notes he rewrote after they had gotten soaked in the pro-am at Westchester, Lefty found himself double-crossed by the most reliable virtue of greatness.

Sometimes the harder you work, the harder you fall. Deep into their final night at the K Club, Mickelson and Woods were still dueling on the ping-pong table while the rest of the U.S. Ryder Cup contingent soaked the loss in Guinness. In 2007 the playing field won't be so level. Tiger has distanced himself from everyone, and if Philly Mick is serious about challenging that supremacy, he needs to make three significant changes in the upcoming year.