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Sunday, April 14
Mickelson misses latest major chance
By David Kraft
ESPN.com
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Phil Mickelson has finished The Masters frustrated in recent years. Mad. Disgusted with his finish. Even more disgusted with the media for asking him about his finish.
Generally, he walked away happy that Augusta National is in his rear-view mirror.
|  | | Phil Mickelson got within two shots of the lead after two holes before tumbling back. |
Sunday, after finishing third and going 0-for-35 as a professional in major championships, he tried a different approach. He considered himself lucky.
"I saw a wonderful move this week, and it seemed to put a lot of things in perspective," Mickelson said. "It was the movie 'The Rookie,' and he said one line that hit home with me about how he was very excited about how today, he's very lucky to be able to play baseball.
"And today, I thought I was very lucky to be able to play the final round of The Masters here at Augusta, play the back nine and be on the leaderboard and play this game for a living and be very fortunate."
That said, Mickelson knew he let another major championship slip away. On Saturday, he talked about needing a low round to catch Tiger Woods. He mentioned shooting 67 or lower. As it turns out, 67 would have caught Woods.
Mickelson did what he wanted to do early, with birdies at the first hole out of a fairway bunker and the second from off the right side of the green.
"I got off to a great start," Mickelson said.
But he immediately gave them back with bogeys at the third and fourth holes.
"That stalled my momentum," he said.
He made a solid birdie at the par-3 sixth, but bogeyed the seventh after hitting a bad drive. He was steady after that, with a birdie at the 15th to get him to 8-under, a shot behind Retief Goosen and four shots behind Woods.
"I thought if I could make a bit of a move, I might be able to make some noise," Mickelson said. "Unfortunately, it stalled a little quicker than I would have liked."
Mickelson did take some steps forward from previous Masters performances. He didn't have anything higher than a bogey, and made only three over the final 36 holes. He made 17 birdies but only nine bogeys for the tournament.
He was never off the leaderboard, but he never led.
"I saw a lot of progress in my game," Mickelson said. "More consistency, no big numbers, nothing higher than a bogey, and I was very pleased with that. "
Mickelson walked away just before Woods walked by. Mickelson wore a white shirt as he headed for the locker room. Woods wore a green jacket as he smiled for the television cameras.
"I don't feel as thought it was a missed opportunity, per se," Mickelson said. "I felt like it was ... every tournament, every major is an opportunity, and throughout the four days, I played very solid golf.
"I didn't have that explosive spurt to & vault me up the leaderboard, which you need to have here at Augusta."
Mickelson now waits for the U.S. Open at Bethpage in June. He'll get the same questions. He'll have to muster the same answers. He might even consider himself lucky to be doing it.
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