Over the weekend, while you were sleeping off your Saturday night, Phil Mickelson knocked off two of the top players of the last decade en route to capturing the splashy HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Sign of great things to come, or meaningless victory in a faraway land? Great thing is, there's evidence for both Tiger's and Phil's camps!

Phil fans can take heart in the fact that Mickelson handily dusted Tiger, extending a two-shot lead to six shots early in the match and making sure that the world's No. 1 never got within shouting distance again. Lefty also dispatched Ernie Els, fighting through some typical Lefty-esque flubs -- he actually whiffed on a flop shot on the 16th -- but held on to win by a single stroke. It was one of his more impressive performances in some time, and when combined with his Tour Championship victory, you've got to figure Phil's game is as sharp as it's ever been. Oh, and there's this: in the two final rounds they've played together this year, it's Phil 2, Tiger 0.

On the other hand, Tiger fans can brush this one off by saying it's an irrelevant tournament, that it doesn't matter that Tiger missed a relatively easy putt early in the round that would have put him within one stroke of the lead. Tiger's Army can say it's the fault of overly active shutterbugs who altered Tiger's swing and put him six strokes back. And they can counter that Tiger has absolutely mastered Phil for most of the years they've competed, and that until Phil gets within sniffing distance of double-digit major wins, his fans need to hush.

The HSBC is thus like a Rorschach Test: you see what you want to see. So, have at it, friends -- what does Phil's win over Tiger mean to you? Share your feelings, share the love.

Mickelson caps his week with win over Woods at HSBC Champions [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

Related: Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson