Thinking of Amy

By Dave Tindall Last updated: 9th November 2009

"I was fortunate to win the Masters. But I'm more fortunate to have a great life partner in my wife, Amy, with whom I share everything.

"To win my first major without my family around would have been unthinkable. To win it with them there, to share in that wonderful moment with me, made it absolutely priceless.

"Amy sometimes wears a small bracelet on her wrist. It's a circle with three charms on it. Joy for Evan. Patience for Sophia. Peace for Amanda.

"As in golf, life is a game of circles."

Once it would have been easy to gloss over that closing passage from Phil Mickelson's 2004 book "One Magical Sunday".

But words that might have been cynically regarded as boring family guff have now taken on great poignancy following the terrible news that Amy Mickelson has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

It 's all too easy to trot out words of fake concern but I have honestly found myself taken aback by the news and I've been asking myself why.

Perhaps I'm a bit more emotional about loved ones than normal having just become a father for the second time.

And, on an abstract level, it's a reminder that life is fragile and horrible things happen.

But my sadness is also quite specific to the Mickelsons.

I've attended golf tournaments on both sides of the Atlantic over the last decade and Amy Mickelson has always been an extremely welcome and very visible presence.

I've overheard British golf fans nudge each other and drool over her blonde hair and colgate smile when she's walked all 18 holes at Opens and Ryder Cups. I've sat a couple of seats away from her at the back of a press room when, despite being heavily pregnant, she's made an extra effort to give support to her husband. And I've watched her exchange the most natural of greetings with Tiger Woods - "Hey Tiger", "Hey Ames"- to make a mockery of the claims that the Woods and the Mickelsons don't get on.

Anyone who suggests that the familiar sight of Amy and the kids dashing on to the 18th green to celebrate one of Phil's wins is partly for the cameras has got it badly wrong.

You only have to watch her reactions before that. Many golf wives never even make it to the course. Some turn up but are clearly bored. Amy Mickelson cheers and claps every birdie or eagle Phil makes, be it at the final hole or the first.

That obvious zest for life will hopefully help her win her battle. As will the amazing, but not surprising, outpouring of love and support from all those in the golfing community.

Dave Tindall