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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > April > 11
Friday, April 11, 2008
Mickelson fans making noise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — To the delight of the Phil Mickelson fanatics who form a coalition at Augusta National that is loud and large, Tiger isn’t quite Tiger at the moment, and nobody outside of putter heads knows those other guys atop the leaderboard at the Masters after two rounds.
Thus the persistent Phil cries, especially when they see their lanky hero lumbering down the fairway with an energy snack in one hand, a bottle of water in the other and a sloppy smile just a touch of his cap away.
“Way to go, Phil.”
“Phil! Phil! Phil!”
“We’re behind you, buddy, and just keep doing what you’re doing.”
“We love you.”
So you know what? If Mickelson actually wins this thing on Sunday for a third time, you should cover your ears. He could make his fanatics scream long enough to make everything swimming and crawling around Rae’s Creek go deaf. It’s just that Mickelson has to keep doing the remarkable, which he often does, and he has to stop doing the ridiculous, which he often does. In case you haven’t been paying attention to Mickelson’s underachieving career, he often does both in the same tournament, which was the case on Friday at Augusta National.
There was no way Mickelson or anybody else from Planet Earth was supposed to whack that ball out of the pine straw to the right of the No. 2 fairway and watch it settle just an easy wedge shot away in front of the green. Later, Mickelson turned a potential bogey into a definite birdie after he plopped a blind shot over the mound at the No. 8 green and watched it trickle close to the pin.
Unfortunately for Mickelson, there also were a couple of botched birdie putts on the back nine that just didn’t make sense. Well, they made Mickelson sense, especially since such things happen to the world’s No. 2 player all the time.
Maybe that’s why the galleries at Augusta National love Mickelson so much, at least according to somebody who knows something about love.
“I guess everybody sort of feels sorry for him,” said Frank Mebane, a Southern Baptist minister, moving with Mickelson from hole to hole with his wife, along with most others on the course who were not part of the Tiger Woods crusade. “Vijay Singh, for instance, is kind of set off by himself and really doesn’t want anything to do with people. Not only that, I think a lot of people believe that Phil doesn’t get the credit that he deserves for being a great player. He’s just somebody we can easily pull for.”
Whatever the case, those fanatics are giddier since Mickelson’s five-under 139 after two days puts him in a third-place tie with the legendary Steve Flesch, and Ian Poulter. The leaders are folks named Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker.
Simply put, all Mickelson has to do is stop choking to have a chance.
These were tiny chokes.
“I thought I had putted great today until 15,” said Mickelson, telling the truth about a hole the featured the best and the worst about his game. We’re talking about the massive Par 5 that gives players the option to lay up with their second shot or to go for an easy birdie or better over a scary pond that stretches in front of the green. Mickelson always goes for it with the crowd always roaring its approval, but there were groans this time. The swirling winds pushed Michelson’s shot far to the right of the green, but the Good Phil chipped to within four feet of the cup.
He didn’t make it. “It wasn’t that hard. I just overplayed the break, and that left a bad taste,” said Mickelson, who also wasn’t pleased on the No. 16 green when he pushed another birdie putt left of its target from maybe 12 feet. Then the Good Phil returned on the next hole when he sent a putt on a 30-foot journey that swung left, then right, before plopping in the hole for a birdie and more yells from his people.
“To be honest, the folks here have treated all people great, and they’ve really treated the past champions wonderful, and I’m fortunate to be one of those,” said Mickelson, who was correct, but only to a degree. They treat Mickelson beyond great, along the lines of Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus when it comes to Masters reverence.
Now all Mickelson has to do is start wearing green jackets like them.
