TUCSON, Arizona. – Phil Mickelson got into the mud after his initial stroke at hole 15 of the Tucson National fell into a pond. He adjusted his feet for balance and punched a 9 iron on the field, earning applause from partner Fred Couples.
Another 9 iron in the pair of 5 to 4 feet and, after taking off his shoes, an unlikely birdie.
A little bit of Mickelson’s magic has Lefty looking to make history.
Mickelson’s mud finch featured a 3-under 70 in the Cologuard Classic on Friday, putting him in contention for the third consecutive victory to open his career as a PGA Tour champion.
“I was so warm. I was going to go in there and play, no matter what – how high the mud went up, it didn’t matter,” said Mickelson. “It wasn’t a difficult shot. The ball looked great, so I was going to go in there.”
Mickelson was 4 shots behind Mike Weir, who had a 66 without bogey in windy conditions at Tucson National. Scott Verplank came out of a green bunker for birdie in par 4 ninth to close a 65.
Mickelson is trying to become the first player to win his first three games in a tournament sanctioned by the PGA Tour.
Lefty had a relatively stress-free front of nine, shooting 3 under 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 hole par 5 on the side of the adjacent tee # 3, where Jeff Sluman was passing after the first shot.
“I came here just to say hi,” said Mickelson, eliciting a laugh from Sluman.
Facing a difficult descent on the dormant Bermuda grass, Mickelson hit the ball to about 6 feet and put the putt to birdie.
The five-time main champion started having back problems nine, starting with a three-stroke bogey in the par 4 11th. Mickelson caught double bogey after hitting par 4 on 13th and looked to be in trouble when his opening shot at No. 15 rolled into a pond in the corner of the dogleg.
The lagoon was 237 meters from the tee, so Mickelson realized that there was no way to hit a 5 iron so strong against the wind. As soon as the ball slipped into the mud, he went straight after it.
“I’m going to have to ask Callaway to send me another pair of those shoes because they are new, but they are no longer good,” he said.
Mickelson followed with another birdie in par 5 17, carving a 3 iron in the front bunker and almost punching it. He closed with a pair in the difficult par 4 18th to hit par 37 in the last nine.
Mickelson won the Ozarks National in Missouri last August on his first start after turning 50 and went on to win at the Country Club of Virginia 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 in Arizona State.
“I have to work to get these short irons closed,” said Mickelson. “If I can do that, I can make a lot of birdies here, but this was not the day. I didn’t do very well today. I have to go after them because these guys are making a lot of birdies and I have to try to get past them.”
Weir opened with two birdies and followed with seven consecutive pars. The 2003 Masters champion had five birdies on a seven-hole stretch to hit 5 under 32 on the back nine.
“Overall, it was solid all the way around,” he said. “I made some good putts. When you hit 7 under, there are some close ones, I made some good ones, I played well too.”
Verplank had a stretch of six birdies in seven holes after starting on the back nine and followed eight consecutive pars with his punctured bunker shot.
“I didn’t get many shots in the bunker, but let’s see what happens and I got a really good shot,” said Verplank. “But they are lucky when they come in, so I accept.”
Steve Stricker, who is also playing on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, was among a group tied for sixth place at 69. He has not 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.