AUGUSTA -- The captain of the Hy Flyers wasn’t flying so high on Friday afternoon.
The strong, gusty winds that caused his black pantlegs to rustle from the moment he stepped on the first tee and forced him to keep a hand on his black hat for much of the day, put a definite damper on Phil Mickelson’s dream to get in contention to win a fourth Masters.
Lefty shot 1-over the first day and, given the unseasonable winds, was aiming to get closer to par by the end of 36 holes. He battled successfully for the front nine, when he shot 1-under and was even for the tournament.
But the back nine, where he has created so many masterful moments, was cruel. He shot 40 on the home side, failing to birdie either of the par-5s and exiting with bogeys at No. 17 and 18. The second-round 75 leaves him at 4-over, 10 shots behind co-leaders Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa and Bryson DeChambeau.
“I’m quite a bit back from where I wanted to be or where I thought I could be,” he said. “I thought I could be right around par and be in a good spot. I’m not really worrying about that. I’ve played some good rounds here. I’m just going to try to play a good solid round (on Saturday) and see what the course gives.”
The winds affected play from the minute he stepped on the tee for his 12:48 tee time. Mickelson ripped his opening tee shot right and took a bogey. He immediately got it back with a birdie at No. 2. On the fifth hole, he missed the green to the left, pitched to 15 feet missed the putt for another bogey.
Mickelson made back-to-back birdies at No. 7, where he rolled in a 21-foot birdie, and No. 8, where he canned a 15-footer, to pull even for the tournament and stand only six behind then-leader DeChambeau.
“I turned at even and for the tournament I thought, if I could get around in even on the back, I’d be in a good position to make a move.”
But the back nine bared teeth that haven’t been seen in years. Amen Corner became Oh-My Corner. There was no safe haven, even for a guy like Mickelson who knows all the hiding places from his 30-plus years coming here.
“That back nine was brutal,” he said. “When you don’t have any birdie holes -- you can’t reach 13 and 15 -- they go from birdie holes to really tough pars. It’s hard to get any momentum and fight. I kept trying to get up-and-down and salvage pars. I did a good job for a while, but it’s really tough. I mean, it’s tough.”
After a bogey at No. 10, he saved par at No. 11 with a 12-foot putt. He changed clubs on the tee at No. 12, missed the green on the upper right and used his putter to get close enough to save par.
He had to lay up at No. 13 and made birdie, then overcooked his drive at No. 14 that ran off the fairway and forced him to layup, leading to a bogey. He saved par at No. 15 after a wayward drive forced him to lay up and made a nice par at No. 16.
But Nos. 17 and 18 were a mess. He was short on his approach to both greens. He three-putted for bogey at 17, coming up short of the hole, and had to chip up at 18 and missed his par putt to the left.
“(The wind) doesn’t change where you can hit it, where you can miss it,” Mickelson said. “It just makes the shots a little bit harder. There really weren’t any great birdie opportunities, so it was hard to really make up ground, like it was hard to get a couple back. You needed to make a really long putt after a couple great shots, so it was hard to get some momentum.”
Safely within the cutline – he’ll make the weekend for the 28th time in 31 tries – Mickelson was using all his powers of positivity to put a good spin the final two rounds. It was a year ago that he closed with a 65 – matching his career best – and climbed all the way into a tie for second place.
“The weekend is going to be nice,” he said. “Hopefully there will be some opportunities to make a run.”
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