Phil Mickelson returned to his old form as he shot the best ever score for an over-50 at the Masters today.
The LIV Golf star, who is now banned from the PGA Tour, insisted: “It's tremendous for this tournament to have all the best players in the world here.”
The American has recorded only one top-15 finish in 10 starts since his controversial switch to the Saudi-backed breakaway league last year. But the three-time Masters winner shot seven birdies in his last 13 holes for a sensational final-round 65 to race up the leaderboard.
When he finished his final round with the leaders still out on the course, he sat in second place on eight-under par despite carding a third-round 75.
Mickelson, 52, said: “Either way, no matter the outcome, I had so much fun today. I feel like I've been hitting these type of quality shots, but I have not been staying focused and present for the upcoming shot, and I make a lot of mistakes. Kind of like you saw on Thursday, and that cost me a bunch of strokes.T o come out today and play the way I did and hit the shots when I needed, it's so much fun.
"I'm grateful to be a part of this tournament and to be here competing and then to play well, it means a lot.” The flamboyant left-hander, who became the oldest ever Major winner at the 2021 US PGA aged 50 added: “Hopefully it's a stepping stone. I know I've been playing really well. I've been shooting low scores back home.
"I've been playing consistently well. When I've been competing, I have not been staying present. I haven't been letting it happen, kind of forcing it. I just haven't been scoring the way I know I can. Today is hopefully a stepping stone to really kick start the rest of the year and continue some great play because I have a unique opportunity.
“It just reaffirms that I knew I was close. I've been hitting quality shots. This doesn't feel like a fluke. It wasn't like I hit shots I haven't been hitting. I stayed present and didn't make loose swings or those bad swings at an inopportune time. I stayed very present and calm throughout, then executed and had a blast.
"At 52, no physical injuries, no physical problems, being able to swing a club the way I want to, to do things in the game that not many people have had a chance to do later in life. I've kind of really worked hard in the off-season to get in shape, to get ready for this.” Mickelson missed the Masters last year amid the fallout of comments admitting he was using LIV Golf to leverage change on the PGA Tour.
"He has been banned from the PGA Tour since playing the first LIV event in Hertfordshire last June but he remains eligible to play all the Majors. “We're all grateful that we're able to play and compete here, and I think it's tremendous for this tournament to have all the best players in the world here,” he said. “Then as a past champion, to be able to still be a part of it, it means a lot."
His playing partner Jordan Spieth, who shot a 66 to finish one shot back on seven-under par, said: “I think he missed one fairway, which was fairway No. 3, and I think that's a fairway he hit 99 out of 100 times. So obviously he's playing really solid golf. Then I think 6 was a big moment for him. That was such a hard hole for him today with the wind.
"Your normal wind it's a good little par-3, but today it's brutally difficult. When he birdied there into 7, I think he started to get a little pep in his step. Then he kind of carried it on from there.” Spieth insisted he had no problem with LIV players, who are banned from the PGA Tour, playing in the Majors. “If you qualify, you qualify,” said the 2015 Masters winner. “I've always been a proponent that you shouldn't keep somebody out if they qualified.”
And the Texan said he detected no change in the crowd reception for Mickelson. “I've played with him three or four times on Sunday here, and I didn't feel a whole lot different,” Spieth added. “I would say only one or two of them counted because the COVID year is one. You can't really answer that question off of that. “But I didn't think so. I thought, once we both started to get it going, it became a really exciting group. It felt very like eight, nine, ten years ago.”
