Houston finish not fazing Mickelson for Masters
While Tiger Woods is the overwhelming WagerWeb.com favorite to add another green jacket to his wardrobe this weekend at the Masters, it had appeared that Phil Mickelson was again a viable threat. After all, Lefty had two wins on Tour this season heading into last week’s Houston Open.
But then Lefty, in a rain- and wind-delayed Houston Open, missed the cut after rounds of 77-76. So is there any reason to think Mickelson can challenge at Augusta?
Well, yes.
Shortly after his second round Saturday, Mickelson was on the range hitting shots in front of his coach, Butch Harmon.
“It was really good that I played here because I made some mistakes during the first two rounds that you just can’t do competitively,” Mickelson said. “I drove two balls in the water off the tee for stroke and distance. Stuff like that I needed to get out of my system here.”
Yes, Mickelson has never won a major when he missed the cut the week before, but with the weather being what it was, he almost gets a pass in Houston. And it seems guys win all the time coming off bad weeks, including Trevor Immelman in the Masters last year.
Mickelson, remember, finished fifth at last year’s Masters, six shots off the winning score of 8-under par posted by Immelman.
“It doesn’t feel like my game is far off,” Mickelson said in Houston. “I’m not overly concerned with what the numbers showed. … I obviously didn’t want to shoot what I did. I made some ridiculous mistakes that you can’t make, and it was great that I played because I didn’t want to go into Augusta making those same mistakes. Fortunately, those drives would have been fine at Augusta, but there’s so much water here that it wasn’t good.”
He comes to the Masters with renewed vigor that has been missing at majors since he blew a win at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot with a double bogey on the 72nd hole.
“In the two years we’ve been together I’ve never seen his confidence this high,” Harmon said.
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