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 Coming off a controversial week in San Diego, Phil Mickelson will be the center of attention as the PGA Tour climbs northward on the California coast.
Mickelson is the marquee name in the now finalized field for the Northern Trust Open scheduled for Feb. 4-7. The winner of multiple major championships is the event's defending champion and will be looking to become the first player in the event's 84-year history to win three consecutive times.
Mickelson, No. 2 in the world, will be joined by Steve Stricker, who is one spot behind Mickelson in the Official World Golf Ranking and also finished the 2009 Northern Trust Open one shot behind him. Mickelson defeated Stricker on a day in which he started with a four-stroke lead, but needed to birdie two of the final three holes to secure a win after a rough patch of golf during the middle of his round.
Stricker is coming off the best season of his career, having captured three PGA Tour events (Crowne Plaza Invitational, John Deere Classic, Deutsche Bank Championship) and was one of just nine players since 2000 to win three or more times in a season. The seven-time PGA Tour winner is one of two players with top-10 finishes in the first two events of the season.
Joining them in the Northern Trust Open field is Fred Couples, captain of the victories 2009 U.S. Presidents Cup Team, who will be making his 28th start at the Northern Trust Open, with victories in 1990 and 1992. His amazing record at the tournament includes 25 made cuts, 19 top-25 finishes and 13 top-10 finishes.
 Couples finished last year's event with a final-round 69, two strokes behind Mickelson for a tie for 3rd. Couples was one shot off the lead on the 18th hole, but an errant approach shot led to a bogey and kept the now 50-year-old from having a chance to win the event for the third time.
In his first event on the Champions Tour earlier this month, Couples finished runner-up by one stroke to Tom Watson in a thrilling final-round duel at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Born in September of 1991, a year and a half after Couples' first win at Riviera, Ryo Ishikawa returns to make his second appearance at the event that gave him his first start on the PGA Tour last year. He gained entry into the tournament by receiving a Commissioner's Foreign Exemption, the same method by which he was granted a spot in the field at last year's Northern Trust Open.
Ishikawa will return to competition in the United States to make his first appearance for U.S.-based fans since October's Presidents Cup, where the 18-year-old Japanese phenom posted the best performance by a rookie on the International Team since 2003 (3-2-0).
Also making his 2010 PGA Tour debut is three-time major championship winner Padraig Harrington. Harrington began 2009 by making changes to his swing that contributed to a less than stellar start to the season. However, the Irishman finished the year with six consecutive top-10 finishes that included two runner-up finishes.
Before the stretch of top-10s, Harrington was 130th in the FedExCup standings. The string of quality golf propelled him into THE Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola where he finished T4 and ended the year 7th in the FedExCup
Harrington will be playing the Northern Trust Open for the third time in his career. Before missing the cut at last year's event, Harrington finished T3 and 7th in 2008 and 2007, respectively.
The 2010 Northern Trust Open field includes 18 major championship winners with 28 major titles (including three of the four major winners from last year). Eighty-three of the players have won a combined 388 PGA Tour titles, and a total of 14 countries are represented by the field.
"We are excited about our field for this year's event. We feel like we have a great mix of some of the game's biggest stars as well as some of golf's best young talent," said Executive Director Jerry West. "I hope that fans will come out to Riviera Country Club to enjoy the tournament, knowing that their ticket purchase will go a long way towards helping the Northern Trust Open give back to the greater Los Angeles area."
Northern Trust Open Field
Michael Allen
Robert Allenby
Stephen Ames
Stuart Appleby
Woody Austin
Aaron Baddeley
Briny Baird
Ricky Barnes
Cameron Beckman
Rich Beem
Matt Bettencourt
Jason Bohn
Michael Bradley
Jonathan Byrd
Angel Cabrera
Mark Calcavecchia
Chad Campbell
Alex Cejka
Greg Chalmers
K.J. Choi
Daniel Chopra
Stewart Cink
Tim Clark
Chris Couch
Fred Couples
Ben Crane
Ben Curtis
Brian Davis
Jason Day
Luke Donald
James Driscoll
Jason Dufner
David Duval
Ernie Els
Bob Estes
Brad Faxon
Steve Flesch
Rickie Fowler
Jim Furyk
Mathew Goggin
Paul Goydos
Nathan Green
Bill Haas
Padraig Harrington
J.J. Henry
Charley Hoffman
J.B. Holmes
Charles Howell III
Ryuji Imada
Ryo Ishikawa
Fredrik Jacobson
Lee Janzen
Dustin Johnson
Richard S. Johnson
Jerry Kelly
Anthony Kim
Jeff Klauk
Matt Kuchar
Martin Laird
Marc Leishman
Justin Leonard
Michael Letzig
Davis Love III
Steve Lowery
Bill Lunde
Will MacKenzie
Hunter Mahan
John Mallinger
Steve Marino
Shigeki Maruyama
Troy Matteson
Scott McCarron
Parker McLachlin
George McNeill
Rocco Mediate
John Merrick
Phil Mickelson
Bryce Molder
Ryan Moore
Kevin Na
James Nitties
Nick O'Hern
Jeff Overton
Greg Owen
Rod Pampling
Jesper Parnevik
Corey Pavin
Pat Perez
Tim Petrovic
Carl Pettersson
Scott Piercy
D.A. Points
Ted Purdy
Brett Quigley
Jeff Quinney
Chez Reavie
John Rollins
Andres Romero
Justin Rose
Rory Sabbatini
Adam Scott
John Senden
Michael Sim
Webb Simpson
Vijay Singh
Brandt Snedeker
Kevin Stadler
Kevin Streelman
Steve Stricker
Chris Stroud
Kevin Sutherland
Vaughn Taylor
Jeff Templeton
Roland Thatcher
Nicholas Thompson
D.J. Trahan
Marc Turnesa
Bo Van Pelt
Scott Verplank
Johnson Wagner
Jimmy Walker
Nick Watney
Bubba Watson
Mike Weir
Charlie Wi
Tim Wilkinson
Mark Wilson
Joshua Wooding
Y.E. Yang
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