Tell it Ernie!!

I never liked Tiger, even before he got in trouble. But in a new article out on ABC, Ernie Els is quoted as saying, “Phil is probably the man to beat now” and “Phil is hitting it as long, or longer, than anybody out there”.

Phil Mickelson, a four-times winner worldwide last year, can now be bracketed alongside top-ranked Tiger Woods in all departments of the game, according to Ernie Els.

Mickelson finished his 2009 campaign in barn-storming fashion, clinching the PGA Tour‘s season-ending Tour Championship in September and the WGC-HSBC Champions in China in November.

In each of those high-profile tournaments, left-hander Mickelson overshadowed his more illustrious American rival Woods, and South African Els took careful notice.

“Phil is probably the man to beat now,” former world number one Els said at this week’s Sony Open on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

“Even if you ask Tiger, I think Phil has got right to his level throughout his game. There is a new guy we got to chase.

“The way Phil played at the end of last year … he played with Tiger in Shanghai and won the tournament there on the final hole. The Tour Championship he won coming from behind.”

Read the complete article at ABC.net.au

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