phil Mickelson has always been a golfer of extremes, volatile not in demeanor but in strategy, shotmak- ing and the scores on
his card. The highs and lows have endeared him to the
many who love to watch him boldly navigate a course.
When he runs aground in the shoals, he finds a way to
keep going. Mickelson has won 40 times on the PGA
Tour, including four major championships, doing it his
way. He has stuck to his guns in defeat too, which was
the case at the 76th Masters.
Now 41—with dozens of wins and not a few painful losses
in his past, particularly in the U.S. Open where he is a
record five-time runner-up—Mickelson has a secure spot
in golf history. But it is not a fixed position. His record and
reputation can grow, and he doesn’t see his forthcoming induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame as a caution light
for his career, certainly not a stop sign. Having maintained
his skills, as shown with one of his more impressive wins
earlier this year at Pebble Beach, and having successfully
managed his psoriatic arthritis, why should he?
(left) was in marked
contrast to Thursday’s
scrambling 74 (right),
which was salvaged
by a birdie-birdie end.
No venue in the game has Mickelson been more suc-
cessful, or felt more comfortable, than Augusta National
GC. Three victories (2004, 2006, 2010) and six other top-
five finishes as he arrived in Georgia for his 20th Masters
meant that despite the clamor about Tiger Woods and
Rory McIlroy, Mickelson figured to factor. “When I won
in 2004, it was no longer pressure I felt. It was excite-
ment,” Mickelson said. “Every time this week came
around, I was excited to get my game geared up for this
event to try to win it again.”
And although this spring it was a different left-hander,
Bubba Watson, who ultimately capitalized best on the
driving friendliness that Augusta
DOM FuRORE ( 2)
National offers to fade-hitting southpaws en route to earning his first
green jacket, Mickelson was a huge
part of the plot and nearly got his
fourth, which would have pulled him
even in Masters glory with Arnold
Agony and ecstasy:
Lefty’s celebration
of Saturday’s 66
masters
Palmer and Woods. Despite making two triple bogeys
(on the 10th hole Thursday and the fourth hole Sunday),
Mickelson tied for third at eight-under 280, two strokes out
of the Watson-Louis Oosthuizen playoff. No one has won the
Masters making a triple bogey, much less two. Watson, on
the other hand, didn’t have worse than a bogey on his card.
“I’m certainly not satisfied just being in contention,”
Mickelson said Sunday evening. “… It’s certainly disap-
pointing not getting it done, not being able to convert
the opportunities on the back nine, not being able to
electrify the crowds and make birdies and eagles when I
needed to and move up the leader board.”
Whatever concern Mickelson had early in Masters
Week about how soft the course inundated by recent
rains would play—which he felt disadvantaged talented
veterans at their best when it was fiery—seemed to dis-
sipate Thursday morning. Mickelson, wearing his green
jacket, showed up shortly after 7: 30 a.m. to watch honor-
ary starters Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player
strike ceremonial tee shots even though he didn’t tee off
until the day’s last grouping at 1: 53 p.m.
The mid- to late-afternoon forecast was bleak, with
