Flubs by Mickelson, futility for Woods
Bubba Watson was the one crying after the Masters. Maybe it should have been Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods. Tears of frustration, that is. Both superstar golfers had what-might-have-been weeks from the opposite directions.
Woods, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 25, was the favorite to win the Masters. That ended early and quickly. He was never in contention and finished tied for 40th at 5 over par.
He also felt obligated to apologize for his behavior that included a kicked club.
“Well, I didn’t hit the ball very good this week, and what’s frustrating is I know what to do and I just don’t do it,” Woods said. “I get out there, and I just don’t trust it at all.”
No player has won the Masters with a triple bogey on the card. Mickelson had two, including one Sunday. And yet he finished tied for third, two shots back.
Entering the final round, Mickelson appeared to be in prime position for green jacket No. 4. He had thrilled the Masters throngs Saturday with an eagle on 13, a patented impossible flop shot on 15 and a birdie on 18 to get to 8 under, one shot out of the lead. And the leader was Sweden’s Peter Hanson, who was sleeping — maybe tossing and turning — on a lead in the Masters for the first time.
It was all set up for Mickelson, until Louis Oosthuizen landed a double eagle on No. 2 to leap from third to first in about 15 seconds. And until Mickelson launched his tee shot on the par-3 fourth past the green, off the grandstand and into deep trouble.
“You just can’t be left of the green on that hole, but I was,” said Mickelson, the champion in 2004, 2006 and 2010. “But I had a lot of chances on the back nine. I just couldn’t quite get it going.”
Woods had a week of what never was. Mickelson’s was what could have been. Both will take some time to get over this Masters.
Shots to remember: At the Masters, the same course shares the stage each year with the game’s best players. And that means the great shots at Augusta National somehow seem more memorable than those at the other majors, which move from course to course. The 2012 Masters delivered three more:
-Mickelson’s flop shot on 15 Saturday, from behind the green, with a 64-degree wedge that rose high, landed soft and ended up 4 feet from the hole. “No one hits that shot. No one,” CBS’ David Feherty said.
-Oosth-izen’s 4-iron from 253 yards on No. 2 Sunday that hit the green, traveled about 80 feet back, toward the right and straight into the hole for double eagle.
-Watson’s screwball from 155 yards, deep in the trees and on pine straw on No. 10, the second hole of the playoff. The shot curved about 40 yards and landed on the green.