It took Phil Mickelson two days to warm up but by the end of his third round on Saturday, the American was sizzling hot as he stormed up the leaderboard with a majestic round of nine-under par 63.
When he finished his round, the leaders were about to tee off, and he was at the top of the leaderboard at 10-under par 206.
At the end of the day, the 43-year-old was two shots behind Craig Lee and in a position to start his season with a win.
They call him ‘Phil the Thrill’, and he lived up to that. He struggled off the tee, finding just seven fairways, but the magic of his short game, especially his magnificent putting, saved him. His play on the 18th hole summed up his day.
Mickelson drilled his drive into the fairway bunker, and then instead of laying up, decided to go for the green in two. What resulted was a slice that sailed into the left of the fairway, just short of the hospitality stands and in between the trees.
As the crowd groaned, expecting a bogey at the very least, Mickelson deliberately thinned a low wedge shot, in between the trees, and managed to reach the green.
Faced with a 50-footer putt for birdie, he dropped it nonchalantly as if he did it everyday for a living.
On that particular hole, Mickelson said: “Bones (his caddie) did not like the decision to try to reach the green out of the bunker, and I don’t blame him. It probably wasn’t my smartest play. But I don’t know, that’s just what I do.
The ball was sitting on a fairly hard, packed lie, I was able to go in steep and keep it low underneath the trees. I just drove a little pitching wedge, just thin it and keep it under the trees and gave myself a 45-, 50-footer… a putt that you don’t expect to make too often.
I had a good feel and it felt great to finish that way.” Mickelson said he benefitted from the wind coming from a different direction on Saturday compared to the first two rounds, and the fact that he progressively got in the groove with his swing.
“What I like is that it feels better each day. The first day, I felt terrible. I felt terrible off the tee. I felt terrible with the irons and my putter was awful,” said Mickelson, who made nine birdies and an eagle during his round.
“The second day, half of it started to come around and today it started to feel pretty good and hopefully I’ll be able to build on it again tomorrow and feel sharp.
I think the wind, although it was strong and it’s not easy, it’s in the opposite direction than the first two days and it’s much easier this direction.” Even though Mickelson has a chance to win the Falcon Trophy today, he feels the week has already been a success.
The reigning Open champion said: “I love the fact that I have a chance and that I’m in contention the first tournament out this year.
I love that I’ve played better each day. We’ve had nice weather to do it, and my swing is starting to feel sharper and sharper and I’m starting to feel more and more control with each swing as the week goes on.
That’s important as we start the year to build a solid foundation.
“I am excited about Sunday, because, heading into the Majors, let’s say in April, you want to have some opportunities to win golf tournaments.
“You want to feel that pressure, that nervousness and to be able to feel that in the first week of the year is awesome.”
