Phil Mickelson 'all fixed up' after sports hernia surgery in October

One of the United States' Ryder Cup heroes is recovering nicely from a recent procedure.

In a surprise revelation this week, five-time major winner Phil Mickelson underwent sports hernia surgery after the Safeway Open in October, an unannounced procedure that was unveiled by Golf Digest's Tim Rosaforte this week.

"It wasn't an outie belly button per se, it just looked like it," Mickelson told Golf Digest. "It was a walnut-sized hernia behind my belly button. It was no big deal, nor did it affect me when I played. I pushed it back in every minute or so. I couldn't work out as intensely as I wanted to. That's all. It didn't hurt or affect me. It was just annoying."

He also noted that he's "all fixed up."

Mickelson had previously gone on about the quality of his health at the age of 46. It is a theme he has put forth all year.

"The fact is that, from 10 years ago when I was playing my best golf, I'm 25 pounds lighter," said Mickelson this summer. "I'm in better shape, I'm physically stronger than I was. I feel better and ... now that my swing is back on plane, I'm starting to hit some shots like I did ten years ago and starting to play some of my best golf again. So I don't see why there's any reason why I can't continue that not just this week but for years. That's kind of what the game plan is."

Mickelson's belly button should be fine for 2017 as he tries to continue his somewhat surprising assault on the record books even as he hurtles towards age 50 and the PGA Tour Champions.

We will not see Mickelson on the golf course for the rest of 2016.

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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.

Golf Final Rankings 2015: Where Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods And More Ended The Year

American Jordan Spieth began 2015 as the fresh-faced No. 9 ranked golfer in the world, loaded with promise to take the PGA by storm at just 21 years of age. With the year coming to a close, Spieth has more than proven his talent and will finish the year as the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world.

Beating out many notable PGA veterans, the Texas native launched to stardom with a record-setting Masters victory and followed up with a dominate run at the U.S. Open, before a fourth-place finish at St. Andrew’s and a thrilling runner-up result at the PGA Championship.

His awe-inspiring finish at Whistling Straits propelled Spieth into golf’s elite, and he eventually overtook Australia’s Jason Day for the world’s top ranking after tying for seventh at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai last month. From there, Spieth further solidified his standing as golf’s best, edging out Day with 619.76 total points over 52 events for an average of 11.9184 points per appearance compared to Day’s 464.27 points and 11.6066 average, according to the official rankings.

But No. 2 Day retains a healthy lead over No. 3 and former No. 1 Rory McIlroy, and he put up astonishing numbers across most of golf’s majors this year. The 28-year-old Day beat Spieth for the PGA Championship, came in fourth at the British Open, and ninth at the U.S. Open, and wound up with five total wins and three top 10 finishes on the year.

After a fourth-place run at the Masters, a serious foot injury forced McIlroy to sit out his defense of the British title, but he roared back to come in ninth at the U.S. and shot at respectable nine-under at the PGAs. All told, Northern Ireland’s favorite son fired off two wins and two top 10 finishes to stay in the top three after spending 34 out of 45 weeks at No. 1 this year.

American and fan favorite Phil Mickelson slipped two spots overall this year to No. 29 after a difficult run over 19 tournaments. The former No. 2-ranked star couldn’t muster a victory this season and finished in the top 10 once. Mickelson will likely spend next year improving on his poor work at three of the four majors. The 45-year-old finished second to Spieth at the Masters, but shot 13-over at the U.S. for 64 th place, and only reached as high as 20th place at the British and PGA Championship.

But the year-end rankings wouldn’t be complete without discussing the continuing slide of former No. 1 Tiger Woods. Injuries, surgeries, a seemingly endless retooling of his swing, and overall poor play have bumped the 39-year-old completely off the rankings after starting the year at No. 32.

Like his rival Mickelson, Woods managed one top 10 finish and didn’t win a single tournament. And next year isn’t looking any better for Woods, who told reporters Sunday that he hasn’t started rehab following a second back surgery though he does hope to return to the tour.

Here’s a look at the top 25 rankings of 2015, including each players’ current points total. Some players have more than others, but the ranking comes down to what each player averages per event.

Official World Golf Rankings

1.Jordan Spieth, United States, 619.76 total points

2.Jason Day, Australia, 464.27

3.Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland, 510.96

4.Bubba Watson, United States, 344.68

5.Justin Rose, England, 382.69

6.Rickie Fowler, United States, 377.69

7.Henrik Stenson, Sweden, 371.10

8.Dustin Johnson, United States, 257.62

9.Jim Furyk, United States, 245.00

10.Adam Scott, Australia, 194.43

11.Zach Johnson, United States, 236.82

12.Sergio Garcia, Spain, 206.54

13.Patrick Reed, United States, 224.79

14.Hideki Matsuyama, Japan, 220.07

15.Branden Grace, South Africa, 215.14

16.Kevin Kisner, United States, 213.39

17.Brooks Koepka, United States, 213.29

18.Louis Oosthuizen, South Africa, 194.71

19.Matt Kuchar, United States, 203.38

20.Danny Willett, England, 199.56

21.Shane Lowry, Ireland, 189.29

22.Kevin Na, United States, 190.51

23.J.B. Holmes, United States, 175.14

24.Paul Casey, England, 180.98

25.Jimmy Walker, United States, 180.79