I couldn’t have been happier to see Steve Stricker win the Northern Trust Open and dethrone Phil Mickelson as the world’s number-two golfer. So the guy is a little boring, but it’s hard not to cheer for such a genuinely nice and humble player — especially one that has a great comeback story.

After struggling for most of the first half of the 2000s, Stricker fell so far in 2005 that his world ranking dropped to 337th and he didn’t make the top-125 on the money list. He was forced to return to Q-school, where he failed to regain his card. But things started looking up for Stricks in 2006 when he was named the PGA Tour Comeback Player of the Year (if that can be taken as a compliment) after seven top-10 finishes. The following year he played his way back to the winner’s circle at The Barclays. Once again, he was named the CPOTY — an unprecedented consecutive season recipient.

So that partly explains the tears in his post-win interview with NBC’s Roger Maltbie. Stricker clarified in his presser:

That’s a common thread for me. I tell myself every time I’m not going to cry, and maybe it’s seeing Roger that makes me cry. I don’t know, it means a lot. I work hard at this, and when it finally — you pour everything into it for 72 holes, and there’s a lot of emotions through the course of the round, and I typically don’t show any emotion. So I think it’s just the ending of it all and finally coming out on top that I lose it.

With Tiger Woods on his indefinite leave from the game, there’s the possibility of Stricker reaching number one, but he’s not thinking about rankings:

[W]e all know who the best player in the world is, and I’ll just continue to do what I do, and that’s practice hard and work at it and try to improve. I’m not saying that I’m going to just not try to work at it anymore, but just continue to do the things that I do when I’m trying to — and that’s to try to get better. That’s all I can ask.

Meanwhile, with all the talking Phil has been doing, it hasn’t translated to his play. Let’s see, rewind back to the Farmers Insurance Open, where he confidently babbled about his improved accuracy and distance. Oh, and he launched his anti-USGA new grooves policy crusade, of course. He finished 19th at Torrey Pines, carding a final-round 73 — after he flew in swing coach Butch Harmon the night before.

Then there’s his putting. We can’t forget his success after working with putting guru Dave Stockton at the end of last year. Well, in eight rounds he’s averaged almost 30 putts a round. Looks like it’s back to the drawing board.

While he opened with an eagle in the third round at the Northern Trust, he played the remaining 35 holes four-over. Whoopsie. Blame it on those darn grooves. Now enough FIGJAM-critiquing from me, there was enough of that elsewhere.

First, let’s go to the guys at the SI Golf Group in the latest edition of PGA Tour Confidential:

Alan Shipnuck: The thing about Phil is that he regularly lays an egg, even when he’s ostensibly playing well. He might win five times this year, including a major or two, but there will be plenty of weeks when he’s a non-factor. That’s what’s so remarkable about Tiger’s body of work — even when he’s struggling he contends.

Gary Van Sickle: Once again, the Phil hype outpaced the Phil reality. I think that’s the hazard of pinning the marketing and hype on one guy. Golf isn’t a game where you can predict who’s going to do well every week. (Not like, say, NASCAR.) It’s also the hazard of pinning the game’s focus on one player whose entire career has been built on spectacular inconsistency. Phil may win at Pebble by 12; it wouldn’t be a surprise. Or he may miss the cut, and that wouldn’t be a surprise either.

That pretty much sums up the wonderful career of FIGJAM. Next up, excerpts from a FoxNews.com article without a byline:

[T]he grand transition plan didn’t allow for the fact that golf’s a meritocracy and Mickelson is now, officially, no longer the heir to the throne.

And after blowing his chances in both San Diego and L.A.’s Riviera, where he was seeking to become the first man to win three straight times at Hogan’s Alley, Mickelson doesn’t deserve to be. That might be a hard truth for Phil’s legions of fans to accept, but it’s also inescapable.

He had three months to prepare for the start of 2010 — knowing what was at stake — and couldn’t deliver. Think Tiger would’ve been an also-ran, finishing 19th and in a tie for 45th, if the roles had been reversed?

No, Phil blew it. He couldn’t even get himself into the running at Torrey Pines or Riviera because he couldn’t find a fairway with binoculars and a compass. Three months to prepare and he couldn’t keep the ball in play. It’s a sad reminder that obsession with distance in golf really is a double-edged sword.

Ouch. Perhaps the harsh tone explains why the writer decided to remain anonymous. But hey, if you’re going to bash someone, at least have the decency (and balls) to sign your name — and so I can email you to impart my praise.

[Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images]