TUCSON, Ariz. – Phil Mickelson waded in the mud after his tee shot on the 15th hole of Tucson National seeped into a pond. He adjusted his feet for balance and hit a 9-iron across the fairway, earning rounds of applause from partner Fred Couples.
Another 9 iron on the par 5 to 4 feet and, after wiping off his shoes, an unlikely birdie.
Lefty has a little Mickelson magic in the hunt to make history.
Mickelson’s little mud bird showed a 3-under 70 at the Cologuard Classic on Friday, putting him in the fight for a third straight win to open his PGA Tour Champions career.
“I was so hot. I would go in there and play it no matter what – no matter how high that mud got, it didn’t matter,” said Mickelson. ‘It was not a hard shot. The ball was fine, so I would get in. ‘
Mickelson was 4 shots behind Mike Weir, who had a bogey-free 66 in windy conditions at Tucson National. Scott Verplank ran out of a greenside bunker for a birdie on the ninth par-4 to close a 65.
Mickelson offers to become the first player to win his first three starts on a PGA Tour-approved tour.
Lefty had a relatively stress-free front nine and shot 3 under on one of the tracks where he became the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour 30 years earlier. He hit his second shot on the par-5 eighth hole on the side of the adjacent No. 3 tee, which Jeff Sluman passed after the tee.
“I knocked it way forward here to say hello,” Mickelson said, pulling a smile from Sluman.
Faced with a tough descent into the dormant Bermuda grass, Mickelson hit the ball to about 6 feet and birdie for the putt.
The five-time major champion started having trouble on the back nine, starting with a three-putt bogey on the par-4 11th. Mickelson took a double bogey after going out of bounds on the par-4 13th and appeared to be in trouble when his tee shot at No. 15 rolled into a pond in the corner of the dogleg.
The pond was 230 yards from the tee, so Mickelson thought there was no way he could knock a 5-iron that far into the wind. Once the ball seeped into the mud, he went right after it.
“I’ll need Callaway to send me another pair of those shoes because these were new, but they’re not good anymore,” he said.
Mickelson followed with another birdie on the par-5 17th, cut a 3-iron to the front bunker and nearly made a hole in it. He finished with a par on the difficult par-4, 18th to shoot even-par 37 on the back nine.
Mickelson won the Ozarks National in Missouri last August in his first start after turning 50 and followed with a win at the Virginia Country Club in October. Although he focused primarily on playing the PGA Tour, he chose to return to Tucson, where he won three times – the first at Tucson National and TPC Starr Pass as a 20-year-old amateur at Arizona State.
“I have some work to do to get those short irons close,” said Mickelson. “If I can, I can do a lot of birdies here, but this was not the day. I didn’t score that well today. I have to go after it because these guys do a lot of birdies and I have to try to pass them.”
Weir led off with two birdies and followed with seven straight pars. The 2003 Masters champion had five birdies in a seven-hole course and shot 5-under 32 on the back nine.
“Overall, it was just completely solid,” he said. “I made some nice putts. If you shoot 7 under, there are some good ones, some nice ones, and well played too.”
Verplank had a stretch of six birdies in seven holes after starting on the back nine and following eight straight pars with his holed-out bunker shot.
“I didn’t get many bunker shots, but let’s see what happens and I got a really good shot,” said Verplank. “But they’re lucky if they go in, so I’ll take it.”
Steve Stricker, who also plays both the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, was in a group tied for sixth place at 69. He hasn’t played a PGA Tour Champions event since September and finished fourth at the Phoenix Open this month. of the PGA Tour. He won the 2018 tournament for the first of his five senior titles.