The pressure and limelight is off the three-time winner and that's just the way he likes it, writes PHILIP REID
THE SERIOUS golfer, and anyone in the field for this 76th Masters fits into such a category, has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the greens at Augusta National. Each year, the little course guide – carried by the player and kept for the following year for those lucky enough to get repeat invites – is marked with the borrows and nuances of each and every green.
It’s all well and good having little notes on paper, or even going to the trouble of getting out a spirit level to work out the contours, but the best method of all is to store a green’s surface in grey matter. As Phil Mickelson, an old hand at getting the job done in the Masters and making his 20th appearance, put it: “I think it is easier to remember the breaks than it is to see them . . . these greens are very challenging to actually see what the ball is going to do, if you do get it a little bit off line, it is just magnified and goes even further off line.”
With such an onus on the putter, it’s no wonder that Mickelson, with a win at Pebble Beach under his belt this season and a hot putter in his hands, has approached this particular Masters with an air of confidence.
As Keegan Bradley, the USPGA champion, observed of Mickelson once he sets foot on Augusta National: “Just being out here with Phil is an inspiration, the way he carries himself around here. You can tell once he comes in here he is a champion . . . (in practice) I found myself kind of watching Phil, just seeing how he prepared.”
In the modern game, Mickelson’s record in the Masters is second only to one man, his nemesis, Tiger Woods. Lefty has three green jackets. Tiger has four of them in his closet.
Yet, with all the knowledge base built up through the years, Mickelson has prepared as diligently as ever. He was here with Dave Pelz on a reconnaissance visit earlier last week – ahead of defending his Houston Open title – and has worked harder since arriving for the tournament. He concentrated on his lag putting. Hit countless chips from off the green, sometimes putting rather than doing his trademark lob shots.
As for his drives? Well, there’s only one way – do a hit-it-n’rip-it imitation of John Daly. “Distance-wise, I go after it as hard as I ever swing this one week of the year,” confessed Mickelson, adding: “as soft as the course is, you can fire at a lot of the pins. The greens are soft, it’s just not the same Augusta. It’s wet around the greens and there’s no fear of the course. You’ve got to attack it this week.”
Since his breakthrough win back in 2004, Mickelson has arrived down Magnolia Lane with high expectations but with less pressure. “After winning, the pressure has not been the same. Because there was this burden of having never won a Major. There was this burden of wanting to win the Masters so bad and being a part of the history of the tournament.
“When I won in 2004, it was no longer pressure I felt, it was excitement. I was excited to get my game geared up to try and win it again, to add another green jacket in the closet, already knowing that I’m going to be part of this tournament every year, knowing that Tuesday of the Masters I’ve got dinner plans. That kind of stuff took the pressure off.”
Stress-free and with a spring in his step, Mickelson has headed into his latest quest for a fourth Masters aware of the focus on Messrs McIlroy and Woods and almost glad for it. “I’m cool with it. I don’t have a problem. I am where I am and I’m fine with it.”
