Phil Mickelson barely manages to stay in the field after a disastrous first round at Masters
The opening round of the Masters turned out to be a disastrous day for the big “lefty” Phil Mickelson, who eventually had to step back into defensive mode of play to salvage his shattered score card at the Augusta National on Thursday.
Mickelson, who is stepping into the first major event of the year, after coming out triumphant in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and another strong runner-up finish in Northern Trust Open, is hoping to clinch the green jacket for the fourth time in his career.
Opening up with a bogey on the first hole of the front, Mickelson lost his composure altogether and was seen losing his balance on few of his drives off the tee.
He pulled in a birdie but fell for another bogey on the 6th. He carded another birdie-bogey before making the turn to find a disastrous triple-bogey three waiting for him at par-four, 10th.
Mickelson said, “Today I missed the ball in the wrong spots and my short game did not save me”.
He played relatively better in the rest of the closing holes, pulling in three birdies and dropping another shot at par-four, 14th.
Mickelson finished for a two-over, 74 and managed to save himself from worse.
He added, “But I'm only 2-over. I know I'm playing well enough to shoot 6- or 7-under. If I can get a good, hot round tomorrow, I'll be right in it. I could have easily slid even further but I was able to make pars when I had to and birdies when I needed to”.
Mickelson was the first in the field to tee-off early in the morning, right after the event was kicked off by the former giants of the sport Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer.
On question of how much Masters actually meant for the 41-year-old, Mickelson replied, “A lot, It would mean an awful lot”.
Mickelson has splendid record at the Augusta National and has won the event three times in his grizzled career.
He won his last green jacket in 2010 and is hoping to bring tons of his experience into play to edge past the rest of the field this week.
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