Swing fits Mickelson to a tee

PEBBLE BEACH -- Three weeks into his season-opening experiment in getting off to a quick start, Phil Mickelson returns to the scene of one of his great successes of a year ago, determined to keep building on whatever momentum he has found so far.

Here’s the progression scenario: Three weeks ago, bronchitis; two weeks ago, a tie for sixth at Torrey Pines; last week, losing a playoff to J.B. Holmes at the FBR Classic.

And starting today, Mickelson is defending his title at the $6-million AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. As usual, it’s a spread-out affair, 180 pros and the same number of amateurs invading Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill and Poppy Hills.

Mickelson is a three-time winner here on the edge of the Del Monte Forest and if all goes well, he says it’s certainly reasonable to assume that he can add a fourth title.

At the very least, Mickelson is encouraged after spending a couple of hours Tuesday in San Diego working with swing coach Butch Harmon.

“My expectations are higher this year because I’m starting to drive the ball a lot better,” Mickelson said.

That has been the key to unlocking success for Mickelson, who enjoyed a week of accuracy last year when he opened with a 65, closed with a 66 and won in a breeze. Mickelson’s 20-under 268 beat Kevin Sutherland by five shots.

The difference?

“I don’t have these huge misses anymore,” he said.

Hitting the ball on the fairway has historically been a challenge for Mickelson, and this week is the one-year anniversary of the realization he needed a fundamental shift in the way he goes about his business at the tee box.

Mickelson says he believes he got away with one last year, and found the fairway even if his swing wasn’t what he pictured in his mind. He didn’t get away with it the next week, when Mickelson led the Nissan Open by a shot with one hole to go, but drove it into the left rough on the 18th hole at Riviera and wound up losing to Charles Howell III on the third playoff hole.

Two days later, Mickelson ditched longtime swing coach Rick Smith for Harmon. Within two months, Mickelson was walking off the 18th green with a victory at the Players, and Harmon slapping him on the back.

What Harmon did was tighten up Mickelson’s swing on his drives, alter his swing path and change his lower body rotation to encourage greater accuracy.

One way to check if Mickelson is on track is to watch whether his driver is more than parallel on his backswing. It shouldn’t be, Mickelson said.

Mickelson ranked 169th in driving accuracy last year when he hit 56.73% of fairways, even though his scoring average of 69.42 ranked fifth. Mickelson leads the PGA Tour in scoring this year, averaging 68.73, because he has played eight rounds and Tiger Woods has played four and doesn’t qualify.

“It takes time to feel comfortable with the changes, especially under the gun,” Mickelson said. “But I knew that I needed to make them because I wasn’t performing off the tee the way I needed to win majors, and I’m seeing the difference.”

There’s one difference the players will see this week. Dry fairways, or at least fairways that aren’t waterlogged, because there’s no rain in the forecast.

So-called “Crosby Weather” is taking a beating, and so may Mickelson’s 20-under score from a year ago.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com