Phil Mickelson gains some redemption, finishes tied for second at the Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The sun was shining. Phil was kissing Amy. He’d torched Augusta National on a perfect spring Sunday in Georgia, his 8-under finish the clubhouse lead. He was smiling. She was smiling. It was Easter Sunday at the Masters, and all was right in golf.

It wasn’t, of course.

Mickelson still looked 50 pounds lighter than the last time he’d played here, and that was 2021, because he’d missed 2022 doing penance for his sins against the game and humanity. Mickelson is the most affable linksman since Arnold Palmer, but circumstance brought about by his own greed and indiscretion turned Mickelson into a hermit the past year. He’d lost his appetite for food and, it seemed, life. Even as the skies brightened after two days of delaying storms, Mickelson still walked under a cloud. They loved him. They hated him.

“Way to go, Phil!” one fan cried, recalling the days when his long hair flowed from his visor en route to green jackets in 2004, 2006, and 2010.

“Traitor,” another fan muttered.

And so it went. This is not unusual in the Annals of Phil.

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Mickelson has a checkered history. He once insulted Tiger Woods’ equipment, humiliated 2016 Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson, had to repay $1 million for insider trading in 2016, and intentionally violated a rule at the 2018 U.S. Open, the only major he hasn’t won.

He saved his worst for last.

Mickelson’s was the biggest name among the dozens who defected to Saudi Arabia’s renegade LIV Golf league in 2022. He left after recent revelations further linked that government with the 9/11 terrorist attacks, not to mention their abduction, murder, and dismemberment in 2018 of Washington Post journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. Ahead of publishing a Mickelson biography, in February of 2022, its author leaked Mickelson’s feeling about the Saudis and joining those “scary motherbleepers,” which he did anyway, for a sheik’s ransom.

He left for LIV after the 2022 Masters, but the maelstrom his comments had already created compelled him to avoid Augusta.

LIV players have since been banned or suspended from the PGA and DP World Tours. However, all four majors, reluctant to exclude players who have qualified for their events, have allowed them to participate.

Dozens of players have left for LIV, but Phil has been the goat, and no that kind of G.O.A.T. The bad kind. And he knows it. He just refuses to admit it.

“I’m happy where I’m at,” he said. “I wanted something different for a lot of reasons, and I’m getting a lot out of it.”

He sure is. He’s getting $200 million out of it. He’s getting called a traitor. He’s getting killed at LIV events, too. Had heat affected him?

“Separate. Separate. They are separate issues,” he insisted, nose growing. “Golf and the — and the professional golf ecosystem and how that’s been handled throughout my career — two totally separate things.”

Maybe they used to be separate. Phil always won no matter how rascally he acted. They no longer are separate. You can see it in his dulled grey eyes. It’s written all over his drawn, strained face.

Masters Week used to be Mickelson Week. He won his first major here, in 2004. He won his most majors here; he has three green jackets, plus the 2005 PGA Championship and the 2013 British Open. Augusta, Ga. is usually Phil-ville, but not this week. This week, he didn’t show his face until Tuesday. He refused to sit for a formal pre-tournament press conference. He reportedly didn’t speak to anyone at the Champions Dinner on Tuesday, which marks the longest time the loquacious Lefty hasn’t spoken since he learned how to talk as a baby.

Heavy rains made everything at Augusta especially green this year; everything, except Phil Mickelson. He was blue.

Then he shot 65 on Sunday — his best-ever final round in the event — to finish tied for second with Brooks Koepka at 8 under. That made him happy.

He wouldn’t directly acknowledge his relief at being welcomed by the tournament, his peers, and his fans. He spoke in terms of his golf game, which had been horrendous even by LIV standards, but he was sending a clear message about his feelings:

“I had so much fun today. ... Hopefully it’s a stepping stone. ... Hopefully I’ll be able to use this again as a springboard for the rest year.”

Three majors remain this season. None means as much as the Masters. It is an exclusive tournament. It didn’t announce its intentions to allow LIV players to play until December, was the last major to do so, and did so with scathing reproach toward the players who abandoned the PGA Tour, which had made them and paid them.

“We’re all grateful that we’re able to play and compete here,” Mickelson said. “I think it’s tremendous for this tournament to have all the best players in the world here.”

He’s right, it was; especially him, Phil the Thrill, ol’ Lefty, the dude who won the 2021 PGA Championship at a record 50 years of age, and, at 52, has very much still got it. The galleries buoyed him, too, roaring Augusta Sunday roars as he birdied Nos. 12 and 13, the final two-thirds of Amen Corner.

“It felt very, very like eight, nine, 10 years ago,” said his playing partner, Jordan Spieth. It looked like it, too.

Mickelson got rolling when he roped his tee shot on the par-3 sixth hole to three feet. His 11-foot hooker at No. 18 was his eighth bird of the day. His one bogey came at No. 5, but he ran off seven birds in his last 12 holes. As the ball tumbled into the cup at 18 he gut-punched the air, tipped his cap, flashed two thumbs-ups, and withdrew back into himself. He sent the patrons into a frenzy.

Well, a muted frenzy. A mixed frenzy. It’s complicated.

Always engaging, Mickelson pounded a few fans’ fists on his walk to the scoring hut, where he signed his card, then hid. Amy, who used to be the den mother of the PGA Tour, joined him, as fashionable as ever: black stretch pants, black jacket, white rain boots. And, of course, snazzy, geometric sunglasses. Yes, they were green; it’s the Masters, after all.

A few minutes later, after the scoring, and the waiting, and the answering, Phil and Amy walked up a small hill, shook a few blue-blooded hands, then repaired to the clubhouse, hand in hand, the king and queen of golf once again.

At least, king and queen for a day.

Spieth bogeyed No. 18 to finish at 7-under. Like Mickelson, he began that day at 1-under. He said he was mentally fatigued after playing eight times in 10 weeks, though he still plans to defend his title at Hilton Head this week. ... Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who’d handled his putter all week like it was a live eel , charged to 6-under through 11 on Sunday and stood four shots back. But his sharp iron play dulled at — where else? — the par-3 12th, whose green he overshot by two full lengths. He dropped, chipped, putted twice, and disappeared. He finished tied for 10th, at 4-under. ... Sahith Theegala chipped in for birdie at No. 16, a recreation of Tiger Woods’ brilliant shot when he won in 2005. Theegala finished ninth at 5-under. ... Viktor Hovland began the day at 8-under and four shots back but he missed the green on No. 6, hit a poor chip, then three-putted for double bogey and never recovered. He finished at 6-under, tied for seventh. ... Charismatic amateur Sam Bennett was 8-under through the first two rounds but finished 76-74. He still took low amateur honors, at 2-over, but finished tied for 16th, one spot shy of automatically qualifying for the 2023 tournament.

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