Torrey North: "Mickelson...is talking like it’s a done deal."

Torrey Pines North's par-3 third in 2008That was Steve Elling's conclusion after hearing Phil Mickelson's Wednesday press conference remarks about his possible redo of Torrey Pines North. I'd have to agree...

Q.  Can you elaborate on your proposal to redo Torrey Pines North that was in the news?

PHIL MICKELSON:  Well, I tried to underbid everybody.  (Laughter.)  That was the goal.

It has been a dream of mine to turn that golf course into what I know it can be.  We will spend countless hours making sure that that course is right because the goal‑‑ the first goal is to make it playable.  It's got to be playable for everybody.  It's a daily golf course, municipal golf course.  Everybody has got to go out and enjoy it.

And the other thing is that the character is not being brought out right.  The character of the canyons and the beauty of that place has not been pulled into the golf course.  It's been separated.  The canyons are on one of the side of the golf course and then there's been no integration, so the character that we bring out will try to enhance the natural beauty that's already there.  There will be a lot more rustic areas, I call it‑‑ what's the best word?  Kind of a rough canyon look, if you will, where I'm going to make the hard holes harder, but I'm going to make the easy holes easier.  I want guys having fun on some of these holes.  The 2nd hole is going to be moved up and shorter, little examples.  We pretty much have it mapped out how we want to make it.

But I'm excited about this opportunity because it's the most beautiful canvas out there, and it has not been utilized properly, and I feel like after playing for so many decades and looking at these courses and appreciating all their beauty, to try to take that and integrate it into a course that just‑‑ that I love is a fun opportunity.

I know the guys are going to love it because it's going to be playing well.  That's the first goal.

Tod Leonard follows up on his initial report and talks to city golf manager Mark Marney, who is pleased with Phil's enthusiasm, but says there's a long way to go.

But one brief meeting with the mayor during the Farmers Insurance Open last Thursday does not constitute a done deal, and there are still many details that would need to be worked out before Mickelson can even consider that he has secured the job.

“There has been one preliminary, 20-minute conversation about this,” said City Golf Manager Mark Marney. “From that conversation we think there is great potential. Phil is a local guy. We appreciate his passion for Torrey Pines. He understands the golf courses, and he understands the public play there and how the public feels about them.

“But there are a lot of issues that need to be looked at before we can actually look at executing anything.”