Tiger Woods / Ralph Ellis / 29 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

Phil Mickelson returned to the golfing fray at Torrey Pines on Thursday and revealed something few would have expected

If there is one man you would have expected to be smiling smugly to himself about the Tiger Woods affair - or maybe that should be string of affairs - it's Phil Mickelson. For years Lefty has been trying to find a way to prise the number one title away from Tiger and now it is there for the taking.

Their rivalry has been one of the great sub-plots of the golfing scene for the last decade, and reached one of its most telling points in the 2004 Ryder Cup when Hal Sutton put them together as his first pairing intending it to be a "shock and awe" start with the world's number one and two blowing away the opposition. Instead they hardly spoke and only Sutton was surprised when they lost not once but twice.

They may have said more or less the right things about each other in press conferences, but Steve Williams, Tiger's caddy, gave the game away late in 2008 when he was asked about the relationship. "There is no relationship," he said, and then added an abusive description of Mickelson's character.

So guess who is coming to Tiger's rescue as his world crumbles around him? The very same guy that Williams insulted. As he made his own return to the tour at Torrey Pines on Thursday after taking time out to help his wife and mother both fight cancer, he revealed that he's been one of the very few fellow professionals to speak to Woods.

"Amy (Mickelson's wife) and I are good friends with both Tiger and Elin and we care deeply about how this turns out," he said.

"I'm going to choose not to talk about it publicly. We've had limited communication with the Woods and again I just feel like discussing any of that is just not appropriate."

It's hard to believe that at some stage this summer Woods is not going to return to the sport he has so dominated. And when he does, after he gets over the initial media storm that will surround his return, he will need the help of his fellow pros to return to anything like normality. He'll also remember the people that were on his side when he needed them.

Europe are currently red hot [1.87] favourites to win back the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor at the beginning of October, and that's not surprising as more of the players who will be in Colin Montgomerie's team begin to find form. Oliver Wilson was the latest to make an impression in the first round of the Qatar Masters, and having ironed out some technical points in his swing could be an interesting outsider at [55] in the Race to Dubai betting.

But if Tiger and Mickelson were suddenly to become a genuine pairing it would give the USA team a massive boost. Backing the Americans now at [2.46] will at the very least give you a chance to trade and turn the market green long before the first ball is hit on October 1.

Five things you might not know about Oliver Wilson

1. Born September 14 1980 in Mansfield, as a nine-year-old he caddied for Lee Westwood in a county match

2. He joined Coxmoor Golf Club and progressed rapidly through the junior ranks to earn a golf scholarship at Augusta State University.

3. At college they played the Augusta National course - home of the Masters - once a year. His best score was level par.

4. He is the only European Ryder Cup player never to have won a tournament on the tour

5. Away from course he's got a passion for motor sport and sponsors BMW have taken him for touring car race driving lessons at Brands Hatch

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