Phil Mickelson Climbs Leaderboard With Surprising Friday 69 at Masters

The three-time Masters champion's results in LIV Golf didn't make it appear like a run this week would be possible.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Seeing Phil Mickelson’s name on the leaderboard almost seems like a typo.

After all, the tall lefthander (who is also a more trimmer version than the one who roamed the PGA Tour fairways in his heyday) has not been able to effectively compete on either the PGA Tour or his new tour recently.

Ranked 42nd on the 2023 LIV Golf points list, Mickelson has a scoring average of 71.37 and is collectively 11 over par for the 10 LIV events he has played in since leaving the PGA Tour last year.

In fact, all the evidence of Mickelson’s recent past comes short of exuding any type of confidence that the three-time Masters champion could make the cut, much less compete for a chance at another green jacket at this year’s Masters.

But like many past champions before him, Mickelson finds the fairways at Augusta National soothing and inviting.

“I would use the word more spiritual because, if you love golf, when you come here, it's more of a spiritual experience, where you feel this appreciation for this great game and the gratitude that you have,” Mickelson said. “This course gives something for everybody to aspire to. If you're a kid and you're dreaming of playing in the Masters and you want to win it, it gives you something to aspire to. It did for me.”

On Friday, Mickelson looked plenty inspired as he birdied the first hole to move from 1 under to 2 under, further from the cut line and more toward contention.

A mishap at the par-3 6th hole, which Mickelson said was the result of a poor chip, resulted in a double bogey and dropped Mickelson to even for the tournament.

The misfortune at the 6th could have derailed his quest to play on the weekend, but birdies on Nos. 8, 12, 13 and an 8-iron approach to the 18th for a kick-in birdie cemented Mickelson firmly in the mix for the weekend, and possibly contention to even win, with a 3-under 69 to put him 4 under for the tournament.

“I'm going to go on a tear pretty soon,” Mickelson said. “You wouldn't think it. You look at the scores. But I've been playing exactly how I played yesterday, hitting the ball great, turning 65s, 66s into 77s. I'm ready to go on a tear.”

Presumably getting the better end of the draw with weather coming in later Friday and a possible rainout predicted for Saturday, the 52-year-old who is ranked 425th in the world rankings should benefit from Mother Nature.

But bad weather or not, Mickelson knows that the third round either on Saturday or Sunday is when he needs to make a move and make his presence felt.

“I'm actually looking forward to the weekend,” Mickelson said. “I know I've been hitting it, playing better than I've been scoring, and I'm looking forward to just putting one round together that I know I'm capable of, and if I do that, it's going to be a really fun weekend.”