Phil Mickelson started the day early and finished late at the Masters on Thursday and in between times he battled gamely to keep alive his hopes of a fourth green jacket.
The 41-year-old American crowd favourite was on hand – clad in his Masters green jacket – to watch golfing legends Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Plamer set the ball rolling as honorary starters just after the crack of dawn.
He then did some practice, had a nap and came back for his 1:53 p.m. tee-off time in the day’s final grouping.
What followed gave every indication that his gesture toward golfing tradition may have been sorely misplaced in terms of fostering his own chances of winning the tournament.
Mickelson opened with a bogey and was two over at the turn before a disastrous triple-bogey seven at the 10th, where he lost his ball off the tee, had him at five over and facing the probability of a missed cut at Augusta National for just the second time in 20 campaigns, after that of 1997.
But he insisted he had no regrets over his own scheduling.
“I’ve been here 20-plus years. I’ve been wanting to do that every year and this worked out great because I had the last tee time,” he said.
“I came out and was able to watch them tee off, have breakfast with (coach) Butch (Harmon) and a little practice session shortly after, plenty of time to go home, take a nap and get ready for the round.
“I think that it’s an experience that I really enjoyed watching those guys hit it, what they have meant to the game of golf.”
Mickelson though was perplexed over his own wayward driving which saw him deep in trouble in uncharted “Tarzan-ian”-like Augusta National undergrowth down the side of the 10th hole.
“I never knew they had jungle like that over there. Nuts, that was so far left,” he said.
But despite his problems on the course Thursday, Mickelson believes he can still work his way back into a tournament he won in 2004, 2006 and 2010 and which constitutes for him the highlight of his golfing year.
“The key was getting through 11 and 12 and some pars, taking advantage of the par 5s,” he said.
“I got two of them back coming in, so as poorly as I played and some of the poor shots I hit and the mishaps, missing on the wrong spot, I’m right there.
“And with a hot round tomorrow, I’ll get right back in it for the weekend. I know that heading in I’ve been playing well so I’m going to fire at it tomorrow and see if I can do that.”
AFP
