The Phil Mickelson ``major flop'' was under way. A front-nine 40. Four shots lost to par. His popular name falling off the leaderboard's first page. The gusts of wind blowing the left-hander's major dreams away - again.
``I feel as though the round could have gotten away from me after that 40,'' Mickelson said. ``I'm proud of myself that I was able to regroup and get back in this thing.''
He may have regrouped with a birdie at No. 13, but he faces a tee shot at the par-3 16th when he returns to Augusta National this morning to complete his third round. He starts the day at 2 under, five shots behind leader Vijay Singh.
``This day is too difficult to describe,'' Mickelson said. ``Cold. Wind. You stand over a putt and you have to back off.''
Mickelson, a two-time winner this season, has said his short game is the best he's seen, yet Saturday's wind negated his strength. Bogeys at Nos. 1, 3, 5, 8 and 9 were a combination of blustery nerves and wind-blown putts.
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Phil Mickelson watches his chip shot on the No. 3 hole Saturday.Jonathan Ernst/Chronicle Staff
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The best example of Mickelson's putting trouble came at No. 9, when he faced a 3-footer for par.
``The wind basically blows all the putts in different directions,'' he said. ``The putt I had normally breaks 3 to 4 inches left-to-right, and this one broke 3 inches the other way. That's 10 inches of break caused just by the wind.''
Then he compounded his cold putting stroke with equally cold decisions. On No. 8, with a 100-yard wedge shot in, he tried to fly the green-guarding mound only to come up 50 feet short.
``I needed to be more cautious there, and I wasn't,'' he said. ``I'd miss 8- to 10-footers; I couldn't make a thing. I'd put myself on the wrong side of holes by trying to make birdie instead of settling for pars.
The two-time winner this season has never been the strongest wind player, as evidenced by his substandard British Open record.
But he does have three top-10s at Augusta, and he feels a new day could be his best recipe.
``With the way Vijay's playing, I'm going to have to be really solid,'' Mickelson said.
Mickelson's back-nine rally suspended
