Mickelson ready for title defence at Players Championship

Phil Mickelson returns to defend his Players Championship title on Thursday, saying he expects challenging conditions at TPC Sawgrass for the nine million-dollar tournament.

Mickelson came from behind in the final round last year to snatch a two-shot victory over Spain's Sergio Garcia.

Mickelson shot an 11-under-par 277, but with deeper rough and firmer greens Mickelson said he expects this year's scores to be higher.

"I don't think it'll be anywhere as low as last year," Mickelson said. "The greens are faster and firmer, and because of that, they're tough to hit.

"They're probably two feet faster on the stimpmeter than they were last year. And also because of the firmness, the ball runs out a lot more on your approach shots, and it's difficult chipping."

The course aside, Mickelson still continues to treat this event like a major.

"It will be the same as other majors for me," Mickelson said.

Mickelson tuned up for the Players Championship by finishing in a tie for 12th last week at the Wachovia Championship.

He has one victory and four top-10 finishes in 10 outings this year.

History will be working against Mickelson this week, since no player has managed to retain the title in the 34-year history of the event. Five players have won this event multiple times, but none in consecutive years.

Another player who thinks highly of the Players Championship is Irishman Padraig Harrington, a two-time runner-up here who returns to the PGA Tour this week after finishing fifth at The Masters last month.

"You've got to put the four majors up there, but this is the best field," Harrington said.

Harrington also is looking forward to the different challenges of the course.

"It's the sort of golf course you can shoot a good score on," he said. "So if you stay patient, you'll always get a run, maybe a couple of times during the week you'll get nine holes where you'll play four- or five-under par and that will certainly bring up your score.

"Probably that's the way to win the tournament, stay patient and wait for those runs."

The event does feature a stellar field, with 49 of the top-50 players in the FedExCup standings competing.

The only absentee is world No.1 Tiger Woods, who is still recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.

Australian Adam Scott, the 2004 champion, is one of the hottest players entering this week. He followed up a win at the Byron Nelson two weeks ago with a tie for eighth last week at the Wachovia.

In the history of this event, eight wins have been by international players, led by two titles from Australian Steve Elkington.