Phil Mickelson can't believe how prepared Tiger Woods is for Ryder Cup

On Monday morning, United States Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III gave one of his 11 players (so far) Phil Mickelson a huge compliment about his preparedness for big tournaments.

"Phil Mickelson, nobody prepares for major championships better than Phil Mickelson and [caddie] Bones," said Love of the upcoming Ryder Cup.

But it was Mickelson, who less than 24 hours earlier had paid nearly the exact same compliment to Love's vice captain Tiger Woods after praising Love for having a "real game plan."

"We know who is going to be playing with who, when they're going to be playing, what matches," Mickelson told Golf Channel. "I am so happy to see how well [Tiger] has thought this through. I can't believe our conversations just this week, how detailed he is and the pairings, the possibilities, the players. Not just what matches they're going to play, but where on the list. He has got us really a good, solid game plan that is easy to buy into and get behind. I'm very impressed."

Love agreed with Mickelson about Woods' work on Monday.

"Tiger looks at things from maybe a little bit higher viewpoint than all of us sometimes," said Love. "His strategy on the golf course ... Everybody just automatically thinks, just look at the scorecard, it's a really long course, we need long hitters. Tiger looks at it a whole lot differently than that. Tiger over the last two or three weeks has made us really think hard about not only pairings but other things that we need to look for in our players.

"He's taken the stats package that we get and breaking it down to what we really need. Tiger has really had us focused on some key things to make these three decisions and how we're going to think about it the next two weeks."

"The Tactician" is what Woods has been called. And it sound like he's living up to his nickname so much so that the normally over-prepared Mickelson is impressed. Things are quite hunky-dory in the United States camp right now it seems which is fun if you're a fan of the American team. I'm interested to see if they remain that way if the Europeans lead by, say, four points going into Sunday.

Phil Mickelson ready to prove his doubters wrong

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Phil Mickelson needs to finish at least third in the BMW Championship to book travel to Atlanta for next week’s FedExCup Playoffs-ending Tour Championship by Coca-Cola.

While the odds are long — he hasn’t won since the2013 British Open and has just three top-10s this year — Mickelson’s in good spirits heading into Thursday’s start of the BMW at Conway Farms Golf Club. In large part because he knows he’s going on a long voyage to South Korea for the Presidents Cup after Jay Haas used one of his two captain’s picks on the member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

While it was a controversial pick considering his form the past 18 months, Mickelson, who was 29th in the Presidents Cup standings, is more than ready to prove his detractors wrong.

He is off at 1:15 p.m. ET with Keegan Bradley and Fabian Gomez.

Mickelson, 45, has played on every Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup team since 1994. Haas’ selection marked just the second time he was a captain’s pick.

“This is the most excited I've been this late in the year because I'm looking forward to being on the team,” said Mickelson, who is ranked 23rd in the world and stands 61st on the FedExCup. “It's meant a lot to me to be a part of that team, and I want to play well and I want to get some momentum. Also, it gave me a little bit of a boost, and my game feels like it's been coming around and feels fairly sharp, so we'll see. But I'm more excited to be playing right now than I have at any time at this point in quite a few years.”

Phil Mickelson's season ends, but he sees glimpses of improvement

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Phil Mickelson capped one of his worst seasons with a 4-under-par 67 Sunday in the final round of the BMW Championship, finishing in the middle of the pack and well outside the top 30 who move on to next week’s FedExCup Playoffs finale.

Mickelson, who hasn’t won since capturing his fifth major championship in the 2013 British Open, had just three top-10s in 19 starts this year. But the winner of 42 PGA Tour titles was far from disgruntled when he finally emerged from the scoring trailer at Conway Farms Golf Club.

“I’m very optimistic about the direction that my game is heading,” said Mickelson, who nonetheless will not play again on the PGA Tour until 2016.  The Tour Championship byCoca-Cola begins Thursday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. “This offseason is going to be a little bit different for me. I have a little bit of work that I need to complete on my golf swing. I haven’t been on plane; I’ve been a little steep, and that has led to some poor ball-striking and it gets progressively worse with the longer stuff.

“However, I’m excited about where it’s gone the last couple of months and I think another 3-4 months in the offseason, I look forward to coming back ready for January. In the meantime, in the next two weeks, I’m hoping I can get it there, too. I saw glimpses.”

Mickelson’s season isn’t over. He will head to South Korea for the Presidents Cup after U.S. captain Jay Haas used one of his two captain’s pick on the member of the Hall of Fame. Mickelson has played on every Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup team since 1994. Mickelson said the entire team is excited, has a good blend of youth and experience and plenty of talent and camaraderie.

“I think I’m going to be a good partner for fourballs,” he said. “I think I’ll make a lot of birdies, and having a partner to cover the mistakes that I’ve made will be nice.”

He made far more mistakes earlier in the year than he has of late, even though his scores didn’t reflect improvement.

“Each day I’ve continued to hit more and more good shots,” he said. “The divot pattern is matching what the ball is doing. I’m just hitting the shots that I’m expecting to hit more and more often.

“ … My scoring is the last thing that’ll come around. Even though the scoring may not be too noticeable, what I’m noticing is a trend up in the quality of shots that I’m hitting.”