On an afternoon Phil Mickelson might have commanded the lead in the Masters, an old ally let him down.
“I struggled with the putter today and a lot of it was wind-aided,” Mickelson after shooting a 1-over 73 that included three bogeys on the day’s final five holes. “It’s easy if you have to hit them. The wind is having more of an effect than the break is.”
Mickelson stands four shots off the lead entering the third round but he could not exploit the advantage when he had it. Most egregious, he said, were a three-putt from 50 feet for par on the par-5 11th and a three-putt bogey from 30 feet on the par-4 14th.
“Man, I fought hard today,” he said. “It was a hard, difficult day and I’m really tired. It was obvious there in the end. I played the last five holes very poorly after a really good round.”
A three-time Masters champion, Mickelson was able to chop two shots off the six-shot gap with the leaders, even while shooting added his 73 to a first-round 71. But as is the rest of the field, he awaits less windy conditions that the weekend will bring.
“Hopefully, with the calm conditions, I’ll get that dialed in tomorrow because I’ve been putting really well,” he said. “And if I have a good putting weekend, I’m going to have a good chance.”
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