The long-lost lefthander will make his much-anticipated return to the PGA Tour at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on Wednesday. After an ugly finish to a once-dazzling 2006 season, Mickelson went underground for a while, skipping the “Silly Season” events and avoiding the spotlight. Hey, we all need time to heal.

Perhaps uncertain he might ever come back, the PGA Tour 2007 Media Guide did not include “Mick the Stick” on its cover photo beside Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk or Adam Scott. Tis true — Phil’s 2006 finish was a train wreck, but only Woods won more tournaments last year.

There also was the ironic Golf Digest edition, which included the cover headline “Phil: Recover in one shot.” Must have been a typo, meant to read: “Phil: Recover in five shots.” Or, “Phil: Recover in six months.”

Love him or loathe him, and most members of the gallery choose the former, Mickelson will return to the professional golf scene with some ’splainin’ to do.

Mickelson’s dramatic oscillation in 2006 begs for clarification. He was on top of the world after winning the Bell South Classic and the Masters Tournament back-to-back in the spring. The green jacket acquisition followed his 2005 PGA Championship win at Baltusrol. Suddenly, he had won two majors in a row; suddenly he had major victories in three seasons running; suddenly the “Best Player To Never Win A Major” was the “Best Bet To Win Any Major.”

Mickelson’s “Phil the Thrill” moniker conjured complimentary connotations, not late-tournament meltdowns. With Tiger Woods out of the picture, mourning the death of his father, Mickelson was the brightest star in golf’s galaxy. It appeared he was poised to become Woods’ equal. It appeared, finally, his ship had come in.

Then came that awful scene at Winged Foot, the 72nd hole from hell, and all those images of “Phil the Pill” flashed again before our eyes. Although Mickelson appeared to handle it well at the time, he didn’t demonstrate as much on the golf course. He tied for 22nd at the British Open, tied for 16th at the PGA, finished 54th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Then came a horrendous performance in the Ryder Cup at the K-Club in Ireland, where, as Bobby Jones might have put it, Mickelson “played a game with which we are not familiar, and which we hope to never see again.”

During his time off, Mickelson renewed his vows with his wife Amy in a Polynesian wedding in Bora Bora. As he returns to competitive golf, he needs to renew his game.

“My performance at the Ryder Cup was every bit as disappointing as my finish at the U.S. Open,” Mickelson said during a pre-tournament press conference at the Bob Hope. “Those two events were what made 2006 a disappointing year. Even though I won The Masters, I looked back and those two events, those were the ones that needed to be addressed. Why did that happen and what is it that I can do to fix those?”

To that end, Mickelson has worked with Callaway on a driver design to eliminate the right-to-left slice that sabotaged him at Winged Foot. He has adopted a new workout routine and martial arts program, to lose weight, build stamina and avoid the end-of-season meltdown he had at the Ryder Cup.

As for coming to grips with last year’s crash-and-burn, Mickelson has won his first outing of the season five times in his career, including twice at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic (2002 and 2004). He’s not worried about a hangover — been there, done that.

“Dealing with failure is part of the game,” Mickelson, 36, said. “I deal with it 90 percent of the time. I look back to when I lost the 2001 PGA to David Toms. On the 16th hole there, I three putted. I had a 50 footer, 60 footer, I blew it eight feet behind the hole and three putted. I looked back at that event and realized my lag putting needs to improve because I’m not going to win majors if my lag putting isn’t better.

“After imploring the help of Dave Pelz, we developed drills to improve my lag putting, and it's led to two Masters wins as well as a PGA on some quick greens. This offseason, what we addressed is driving. I always kind of put it back like, ‘I know I can hit a fairway if I have to,’ what have you. It wasn’t the case and I had to address that.”

Phil is back. All that remains to be seen is which Phil.

WIE THE PEOPLE
Michelle Wie played in her first event of the season last week, competing in the PGA Tour Sony Open on her home Hawaiian turf for the fourth year running. The fanfare was minimal and the results were pedestrian — again.

The soon-to-be Stanford freshman shot scores of 78-76 to miss the cut by 14 strokes. Now, anyone can have a bad week; it happens to the best. Among others missing the cut were notables like Stuart Appleby, Stewart Cink, Mark Calcavecchia and Shaun Micheel.
But none of those fellas are 17-year-old girls. They have to take the good with the bad to make hay on the PGA Tour.

Michelle Wie does not. Wie is not getting closer to cracking golf’s gender barrier; she is drifting farther away. In her first Sony Open, at age 14, she shot scores of 72-68, missing the cut by one. Sadly, that was as good as it’s been.

Her performance last week — sore wrist or not — adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests she is barking up the wrong tree. Her record with the men in 2006 was equally unflattering. She opened with a 79 at the Sony, although she rallied with a 68. Same result; she missed the cut.

She had a 78-79 at the European Masters, carded a 77-81 at the 84 Lumber Classic and signed for 81-80 at a Japanese tournament. She finished last in Switzerland and Pennsylvania, next-to-last in Japan. She has missed the cut in 13 of 14 starts among the men, with the only exception being a weekend fling at the Asian Tour’s SK Telecom Open last year, where she finished near the back of bus.

Her critics are increasing by the event, but endorsement contracts or not, Wie doesn’t deserve it. Her playing ability is still way off the charts for a 17-year old girl. She has come close to winning a couple of times on the LPGA Tour, narrowly missing a playoff at last year’s Nabisco Dinah Shore. She qualified for the 2005 U.S. Amateur Public Links — an event dominated by the best male college players in the country — and made it to the quarterfinals before losing to the defending champion.

That’s amazing stuff, and she deserves to hear those kind of comments. The mind is a terrible thing for golf to waste, but make no mistake — it will waste it. I don’t know where Michelle Wie goes from here, but I think if I’m her advisor (or her sponsor), I’d suggest a more comfortable place. Seventeen-year-old girls should have an opportunity to shine, not be ridiculed.

PUTT UP OR SHUT UP
How do you win tournaments? You win them the way Paul Goydos won the Sony Open in Hawaii last week. Goydos made 59 of 63 putts (93.7 percent) inside of 10 feet. Even better, he made six of 13 putts between 15 and 20 feet.