Mickelson remains in upbeat mood
Phil Mickelson did not plan to be playing golf today, but now that he is he believes it can only help his defence of the Masters later this week.
After a sparkling second-round 65 yesterday, Mickelson goes into the third and final round of the rain and snow-hit BellSouth Classic in Atlanta just a single stroke behind fellow American Scott McCarron.
Luke Donald, Ian Woosnam and Joakim Haeggman were among six players who quit the event to turn their attentions to Augusta – Donald citing a sore shoulder and Haeggman not returning yesterday after covering his first nine holes in a nightmare 47.
Mickelson, on the other hand, has stuck around for the second Monday finish in a row on the US Tour. Much to the relief of the sponsors, of course, but also much to his own delight.
“I enjoy being able to play a competitive round closer to the start of the Masters on Thursday,” he said after joining Jose Maria Olazabal and Billy Mayfair in second place.
“I have only two days in between now, as opposed to 10 or 11 if I had skipped this event.” Main rivals Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els are in that position, of course.
Mickelson does not mind either if there was more wild weather today.
“If it blows at Augusta then this will be great practice and it’s a fun opportunity to try to win this tournament,” he added.
“I love playing the week before a major, I love the fact that we are playing Monday and I love how this tournament has set the course up as close to Augusta as possible.
“The greens are the same, the areas around the green are the same. I think it’s a great place to start hitting the shots that I will need to hit at the Masters.”
It was the fact that there might have been 36 holes today that had some of the others packing their bags, but Mickelson insists that would not have bothered him either.
But when the tournament, which had its first two days washed out, was held up by a freak shower of snow, sleet and hailstorm on Saturday, it was inevitable that it would be reduced from 72 to 54 holes.
The last time it was played over three rounds was 2000 – and Mickelson won then by beating Jack Nicklaus’ son Gary in a play-off.
Late on Saturday Mickelson hit two drives out of bounds in his first round, but while everything was not quite working in top order yesterday, six birdies and a chip-in eagle was a distinct improvement.
Once he gets to Augusta he will be taking things relatively easy over the next two days.
“I’m playing 18 holes Tuesday, but Wednesday I’ll just practise and play the par-three competition. I did all the work on the course I needed to before this week,” said the left hander.
Mickelson had no criticism of those who quit the event.
“Guys who planned to practise at Augusta Monday suddenly couldn’t and I certainly understand that they didn’t want to play here and practise Tuesday and Wednesday,” he said.
“They feel they would overdo it and ultimately be tired when Thursday came around. That’s the reason I go in a couple of weeks early.”
McCarron, not in the Masters field, leads after back-to-back 69s and is seeking his third BellSouth title. He has only ever had one other victory in his US Tour career – and that was nine years ago.
So much time was lost to the weather that the second round still had to be finished first thing today.
Nobody could remember the last time the cut was made on Monday.
