Phil Mickelson donned the green jacket for the first time in 2004, winning his first Masters title by scoring 9 under 279 over the course of four days and successfully defeating one of the greats of the game—Ernie Els—by one stroke. It was the first of three times he took the Masters title home in the years 2006 and 2010.
Coming to the 88th Masters, Mickelson’s shot at victory looks quite bleak. However, his decades of experience and knowledge of the historical golf course may come in handy for American heartthrob Max HomaAfter 54 holes, Homa has secured the solo 3rd spot on the leaderboard and may claim his first major victory. And to do that, Mickelson has some tricky five-word advice for him.
Phil Mickelson advises Max Homa to enjoy the challenge
After the culmination of the third round, Phil Mickelson is currently sitting at T36 alongside his fellow LIV golfer Brooks Koepka, with whom he shared the T2 position at last year’s Masters. During the post-match presser, one interviewer chose to reminisce about Lefty’s 2004 Masters run, where, after the third round, Mickelson was in the lead alongside Chris DiMarco. Max Homa is somewhat in a similar position to what the LIV Golfer was in 20 years ago, thus, the interviewer asked whether Mickelson had a few words of wisdom for the PGA Tour golfer.
The 45-time PGA Tour winner was simple and realistic when suggesting what to do at Augusta National. Without complicating things, Mickelson said, “I don’t know. I’m going to let everybody figure it out for themselves. That’s part of the challenge.” Guess, Homa will have to learn on his own to card his first maiden victory.
However, the 53-year-old wasn’t left alone and got asked what he may say to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler as he strides for his second Masters win, Mickelson reiterated what he had said and relayed, “All that stuff is a fun challenge, trying to get your first, trying to get another one. Knowing how to score in certain conditions. All this is what makes play so great.”
It was apparent that Lefty is a man who likes to figure things out himself and clearly would for the newer golfers who are making their mark in the sport to do the same. Even though he did not give any hacks to his fellow golfers, his years of experience did shine through as the LIV Golfer spoke about the nature of Augusta National Golf Course.
Phil Mickelson describes the nuances of Augusta National
Augusta National is anything but predictable, whether it be the changes made to the course over the period or unpredictable weather affecting the golfers’ gameplay, the course might be the same but the experience at every Masters is different. That is exactly what Mickelson spoke about, “We’ve got to come back every year, and history is made every year, and nuances are learned every year. Shots for the first time you’ve ever seen occur,” Giving one example of how new shots can be seen at Augusta Nationa, Lefty narrated one made by Sepp Straka.
He explained, “I saw Sepp Straka run it through the bunker on 2 yesterday. Never saw a ball run through the bunker, and it rolled up 20 feet from the hole. You see things happen that never happen before, just every year. So it’s always fun.” It surely is fun to play the Masters with all its glory and challenges. And while Mickelson may not win the 88th green jacket, his 2004 fans might be repeated after two decades.
