WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - When the Greenbrier Classic springs back to life Thursday morning, Phil Mickelson will try to atone for three missed cuts here.
But on the national golf scene, Mickelson's 1 p.m. tee time marks his first swing in the post-"Bones" era, a few weeks after one of history's most famous player-caddie relationships ended.
Mickelson and Jim "Bones" Mackay announced the end of their relationship June 20. The Greenbrier Classic will be Mickelson's first competition with younger brother Tim on the bag. They're hardly strangers.
"Yeah, we've been together now for 40 years, which is as long as he's been around," Phil Mickelson said Wednesday before his pro-am round. "We're excited to get started and excited to have this week together."
Tim Mickelson is a former golf coach at the University of San Diego and Arizona State University. He spent eight years at USD, then five at Arizona State, where both Mickelsons played collegiately. (Tim played his senior year at Oregon State.)
Tim Mickelson left the ASU coaching job in 2016 to join Lagardere Sports and serve as the agent for one of his players, Jon Rahm. The Spaniard is now the 11th-ranked player in the world.
Phil Mickelson said his brother has qualities that will transfer nicely to the caddie role.
"He has a great mindset for how to play a hole most effectively with five guys who have varying skill levels," Phil Mickelson said. "He has a great idea how to see a golf course and play differently for a guy like Jon Rahm, who can play at an elite level."
Phil Mickelson played the Greenbrier Classic from 2011 through 2013, missing the cut each time (by two, three and three strokes, respectively). In 2011, he bogeyed the last par-3 holes, Nos. 15 and 18; a double bogey on the 15th killed him in 2012, and he never recovered from a triple bogey on the 17th in 2013.
He always said his biggest trouble at the Old White TPC is adjusting to the way altitude changes the distance on his irons. Many PGA Tour events are played near sea level, but Old White sits about 1,800-1,900 feet above sea level.
Bear in mind that iron play is the backbone of Phil Mickelson's game. He is second on the tour in proximity in approach shots from the fairway, averaging 21 feet from the hole.
"The higher you hit it, the greater the percentage difference, and the lower you hit it, the percentage decreases, so I am getting accustomed to that," he said.
Later in the day, Kevin Kisner expounded on the subject.
"We play about 5 percent change here, when it's warm," he said. "This morning, it was pouring rain and the ball was going nowhere. We notice when it warms up in the afternoon, 5 percent pretty easily."
Phil Mickelson has chosen his words carefully since he and Mackay parted ways. It might be appropriate that Mickelson played his pro-am round with both U.S. senators from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin - he has been a bit of a politician about it.
For example, Phil Mickelson fielded a question about the possible positive effect his brother may have on the rest of his season, and he danced around it.
"Well, I'm hesitant to talk too much about anything because I'm so appreciative of the time I have had with Bones for 25 years," he said. "Anything I say positively about what I'm looking forward to with Tim, and so forth, I feel would be taken as a shot at Bones. I don't want to do that. I have too much respect for him and our time together over the years."
As the 156-man field begins play at 7 a.m. Thursday, Kisner and Mickelson will represent two of the field's top three players in the world rankings, 25th and 24th, respectively. Patrick Reed, who slipped from 17th to 21st after last week, leads the way.
There are eight players in the top 50 and 23 in the top 100, plus the world's No. 1 and No. 3 amateurs (Joaquin Niemann, Braden Thornberry). Seventy-one players have won a PGA Tour event.
Kisner is the highest-ranked player in the PGA Tour's FedExCup standings at No. 8. With the tour season in the home stretch, eight of the top 30 and 14 of the next 30 are here.
Four spots in the British Open are on the line, going to those top four not already exempt.
To this point, the big story has been not about who is in the tournament, but that there is a tournament after the devastation of the 2016 floods forced cancellation of the Greenbrier Classic. Mickelson, Kisner and others are raving about the resurrected Old White TPC course, which hosted its celebrity pro-am event Wednesday.
Several tour members say the changes made with the original architect's intent in mind have made the course more interesting.
"You're hitting a low cut to one and a high draw to another pin," Mickelson said. "Your shot value and the shots required to play this course, even though it looks straighter because of the green contours and such, require some great shot-making skills.
"Fun course to play."
And for the first time in two years, golfers will be playing for real in West Virginia.
Contact Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsmock@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @dougsmock and read his blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/dougsmock/.