Augusta roars for Mickelson

Published 10:49 pm Saturday, April 10, 2010

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It cannot be repeated enough.

No shot in golf is too difficult, or too easy, for Phillip Alfred Mickelson, 39, father of three, adventurer, Waffle House enthusiast (he contemplated buying the entire greasy chain), and Everyman in almost every respect except for his thrilling ability to make a golf ball fade, hook, quote Eminem and do the electric slide.

On Saturday at Augusta National, Mickelson sank an 8-foot eagle putt, holed out from the next fairway for another eagle, and launched a wedge at the next hole that, on just a little drier green, would have moondanced into the cup for a third consecutive eagle.

No one at the Masters ever has done that. Mickelson talked as if he was trying to.

“The one on 15? It went across the hole from my viewpoint, but it was about eight inches behind it,” he said. “But it was crossing the hole, I was expecting it to disappear, yeah.”

But then it’s a wonder that he even heard the question, considering the huzzah factor from galleries that are just glad Augusta National is an eagle sanctuary again. There were eight on Saturday, two each by Mickelson and Kenny Perry.

Mickelson has three for the week and Lee Westwood one, and that’s why Mickelson is only one shot behind Westwood, with 18 holes left.

But remember, Pete Rose had a ready retort for anyone who complained that his doubles kicked up chalk: “That’s what the lines are out there for, right?” Mickelson figures if God didn’t want fairway eagles, He wouldn’t have allowed holes.

Mickelson’s continual inability to sink forearm-length putts is an issue better left to higher powers. But then you don’t explain Mickelson. You just heat the popcorn and sit back.

Mickelson was five behind Westwood and then, 27 minutes later, led him by one. Then he bogeyed 17 and is at 11-under-par, with Westwood at 12.

“He’s going to be the guy to beat,” said Fred Couples, who fruitlessly chased Mickelson on Sunday four years ago and had a primo seat Saturday, just ahead of him.

“I think Phil would be the guy to beat even if he’s within a shot. We had been texting back and forth, about how low I’d have to go to catch him so we could play together tomorrow. And then he goes eagle-eagle-birdie.”

When Tiger Woods saw the pin on 14, at the bottom of a funnel, he predicted someone would make two there. When Couples saw Mickelson do it, he yelled out from 16.

“He couldn’t hear me, but I wanted that eagle ball,” Couples said. “Then I chipped in on 15 and told him he could have my eagle ball. That was pretty neat.”

Mickelson said it will get neater. Augusta is expecting another sun-kissed day, with negligible wind, and the Billy Payne Era has brought an eagerness to expand the strike zone for the world’s top players.

“The pins they haven’t used yet, some of them will be the easier pins,” Mickelson said. “I think we are going to have some excitement tomorrow, a real shootout. We have seen guys go seven or eight under (in past years0 and I think it will be very possible.

“There were roars all over the place today. You couldn’t figure out who was doing what. What was cool is that the pins were tough. But the greens are receptive, so you still could get at them. There are a lot of mistakes that can be made.”

Tom Watson, 60 years of age and still 2-under-par, has known that singular noise for nearly 40 years. “Those are Augusta roars,” he said. “I’m glad they’re back.”

But there are also Masters moans, a stricken sound that owes its resonance to the fact that you only get to come here once a year. Mickelson expertly curled a long putt next to the hole on No. 6. His next putt never threatened the hole.

The utterly random nature of Mickelson is why fans follow so raptly. Another is his easy smile, his willingness to dive into autograph nests, and his resilience.

We all thought he would have trouble bearing the sting of the 2006 U.S. Open, when he frivolously double bogeyed the 18th.

Now we see him plowing forward while his wife Amy tries to stand up to cancer, and the subsequent, toxic remedies.

All the Mickelsons are here this week, although they haven’t visited the club. “First time in 11 months,” Phil said. “It takes a lot of the heartache away.”

The moralizing and the soul-searching of the early week have been replaced by the sheer force of this greatest show on grass, this spring perennial. Phil Mickelson was born to play all day in this arcade. And, yeah, he has enough quarters.