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TUCSON, Ariz .– Phil Mickelson waded through the mud after his tee shot on the 15th hole at Tucson National sank in a pond. He adjusted his feet for balance and hit a 9 iron along the fairway, earning applause from his partner Fred Couples.
Another 9-iron on the par 5 to 4 feet and, after wiping off his shoes, an unlikely birdie.
A little bit of Mickelson magic left Lefty on the hunt to make history.
Mickelson’s mud birdie highlighted a 3 under 70 at the Cologuard Classic on Friday, putting him in contention for a third straight win to open his PGA Tour Champions career.
“I was so heated up. I was going to get in there and play no matter what – how high that mud was going up, it didn’t matter,” Mickelson said. “It wasn’t a hard blow. The ball was seated well, so I was going to get in.”
Mickelson was 4 shots behind Mike Weir, who had a bogeyless 66 in windy conditions at Tucson National. Scott Verplank came out of a greenside bunker for birdie on the par 4 ninth to close a 65.
Mickelson is keen to become the first player to win his first three starts on a PGA Tour sanctioned tour.
Lefty had a relatively stress-free front nine, shooting 3 cents on one of the courses where he became the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour 30 years earlier. He hit his second shot on the eighth par-5 hole off the side of the adjacent No. 3 tee, where Jeff Sluman passed after starting.
“I hit him here just to say hello,” Mickelson said, drawing a laugh from Sluman.
Facing a tough descent into the backwashing Bermuda grass, Mickelson hit the ball about 6 feet and made the putt for birdie.
The five-time major champion started struggling on the back nine, starting with a three-putt bogey on par 4 11. Mickelson took a double bogey after hitting out of bounds on par 4 13th and appeared to be in trouble when his tee shot on No 15 rolled into a pond at the corner of the dogleg.
The pond was 237 yards from the start, so Mickelson figured there was no way to hit a 5 iron this far into the wind. Once the bullet sank in the mud, he went right after.
“I’m going to have to ask Callaway to send me another pair of these shoes because they were new, but they’re not good anymore,” he said.
Mickelson followed with another birdie at the 17th par-5, sculpting a 3 iron in the front bunker and nearly gouging it out. He finished with a par on the difficult par 4 18th to even shoot a par 37 on the back nine.
Mickelson won the Ozarks National at Missouri last August in his first start after turning 50 and followed it up with a victory at the Virginia Country Club in October. Although primarily focused on playing on the PGA Tour, he chose to return to Tucson, where he won three times – the first at Tucson National and the TPC Starr Pass as a 20-year-old amateur at Arizona State. .
“I have some work to do to bring these short irons together,” said Mickelson. “If I can do that I can do a lot of birds here, but it was not the day. I didn’t score very well today. I have to get through because these guys are doing lots of birds and I must try to pass them. “
Weir opened with two birdies and followed with seven straight pars. The 2003 Masters champion had five birdies on a seven-hole streak to shoot 5-under-32 on the last nine.
“Overall it was just solid all around,” he says. “I had a few good putts. When you shoot 7 cents it’s a few close, actually some nice, well played too.”
Verplank had a six birdie stretch in seven holes after starting on the back nine and called eight straight pars with his hole bunker shot.
“I hadn’t hit a lot of bunker shots, but let’s see what happens and I put in a really good shot,” Verplank said. “But they’re lucky when they come in, so I’ll take it.”
Steve Stricker, who also plays the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, was in a group tied for sixth at 69. He hasn’t played a PGA Tour Champions event since September and tied for fourth at the PGA Tour Phoenix Open this month. He won the 2018 tournament for the first of his five senior titles.
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