Eagle-happy Mickelson
makes thunder at Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Billy Payne was talking about the roars coming back to the Masters. He’s the chairman of Augusta National and of the tournament, and as such, seems to have scripted this Masters. Instructing Phil Mickelson, for example, to go out and stir up a bit of excitement. And Mickelson, ever agreeable, goes out and gets himself an eagle at the 13th, and another at the 14th, for golly sake, and then cools off to a birdie at the 15th, and you think Billy Payne wasn’t grinning back there up at the clubhouse, where he was holding on to the curtains lest the thunder booming up the hill knock him into the peach cobbler. You coulda walked across the roars at Augusta National Saturday.
Get the scene:
England’s Lee Westwood is leading without breaking a sweat, and he’s four up as Mickelson is coming to the 13th. And then in the span of three holes and about 35 minutes, it’s Mickelson who’s leading, thanks to a five-shot swing in that little ambush.
“There were roars going up all over the place,” Mickelson was saying. “You couldn’t figure out who was doing what, because there were roars happening throughout the course.” Mickelson was jolly well pleased to see the leaderboard change like a subway lineup. And he was listening to a dandy tournament. “You hear the roars and you try to figure out who did what,” he said. Then a peek at the leaderboard tells the tale.
“But it doesn’t really change the way I play too much,” he said.
(For a reference point, Westwood started the day with the lead. Mickelson edged ahead briefly on the back nine. K.J. Choi, the forgotten man, unscrutabled his way to a 70, and Tiger Woods was dazzling part of the time and a chop part of the time, but put enough together for a 70. So Westwood, who shot 68, is leading by one going into the final round, and Mickelson, with a 67, is one behind, and Choi and Woods are four behind, and a whole bunch of other guys can’t be counted out.
Mickelson’s stunning burst began at the par-5 13th. He drove nicely out through the dogleg left, fired a 7-iron from 195 yards to 8 feet, and holed the putt.
“Now, 14, it’s the easiest pin on the hole,” Mickelson said. It’s a 440-yard par-4 with a green of big bulges. “You expect to make birdie there,” he said, “and I hit a good shot and thought the ball would be close.” It was a wedge from 141 yards that hit 6 feet past the pin and drew back into the hole. Talk about noise. It lasted for about a minute, someone noted.
“It was pretty cool, yeah, that walk up,” Mickelson conceded (most everything is “cool” to him). “I can’t believe that ball disappeared and went in. It was sure fun, especially after eagling 13, and that walk up was awesome.”
So, of course, Mickelson – and remember, he’s playing along oblivious to any thoughts of Tiger Woods closing in or not closing in, to suit the dramatic lore, just riding the crest – he wants another eagle, and the 530-yard par-5 15th is a fine place for one.
But he drove behind some trees, so he had to lay up and had a mere 87 yards left for his third. And he went after it. He missed by about 8 inches, though, the ball passing behind the hole by that much. But he did get his birdie. Good thing. The record book couldn’t stand another eagle. Since 1983, no player on the PGA Tour has made three straight eagles, and Joe Ogilvie, in 2007, was the last to get three in the same round, but it wasn’t in the Masters.
Mickelson, who won in 2004 and ’06, goes into the final round Sunday trying to join seven other players with three or more Masters wins, and the signs look encouraging. He’s been mostly on his game. And how about an encore in the finale?
“Well, we are going to have perfect weather again,” Mickelson said. “I think the course is going to be set up similarly. I think we’re going to have a real shootout.”
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