AUGUSTA, Ga. – The tremendous roar from far away reached the 18th green at Augusta National a second or two after it left the throats of a thousand fans at the 13th green just before 5 p.m. Saturday.
Moments later, scoreboard workers opened the back of the second slot from the top on the big board overlooking the 18th green, loaded a last name, and pushed it back into place:
Mickelson.
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A robust cheer went up from the assembled throng at 18.
Then, without posting any numbers for the front nine, the workers quickly loaded his score related to par for holes 10, 11, 12 and 13:
3, 3, 4, 6.
Mickelson had eagled the par-5 13th. He was tied for the lead in the third round of the Masters.
No cellphones are allowed on the course, so news of great feats travels slowly at Augusta National. The scoreboard, then, becomes the town crier, giving word of the drama as quickly as it can be posted, manually. Nothing about this is modern, but it is charming.
People surrounding the 18th green almost couldn't believe their eyes. Mickelson? He had started the day at 2 under and had made nothing but pars on the first nine holes. Mickelson? In the first round, he had been 4 over through 14 holes.
Yes, Mickelson, the 41-year-old three-time winner of the Masters, was back in the thick of things. He ended up with birdies on 15 and 18 to reach 6 under for the day, 8 under for the tournament, and will play in the final group Sunday with Sweden's Peter Hanson, who leads the tournament at 9 under.
Mickelson says he loves the Masters like no other tournament, but as players came up the leaderboard and went back down it, Mickelson had been nowhere near it — until he made the turn in the third round.
"It was so much fun," he said. "It was important to birdie 11 or 12 (it was 12), get 1 or 2 under before 13, but that eagle on 13 reminded me of Saturday in 2010 when I eagled to that pin position, also. It was a tough one to get to, and I took, again, a little bit of risk to get it along the left side of that green."
His eagle putt was 25 feet, with 5 feet of break, uphill and to the right. "I've hit that putt so many times. I know that it breaks a lot at the hole. I know it's slow up that hill and gave it a little extra and still barely got it to the lip and it just fell in. When that putt went in, that was such a good feeling."
Whether you were in the gallery on 18, or somewhere on the course, it was impossible not to notice.
"That was one of those special kind of Masters moments that I've been watching so many times TV-wise," said Hanson, who was playing in the twosome just ahead of Mickelson. "You hear the crowd going wild: he made the eagle. It kind of helped me on 14. I'm standing in the middle of the fairway and I feel him breathing down my neck a little bit and manage to get mine close on 14 and picked up another birdie on 15."
Everyone reacted in his own way.
"I went in, I have not seen Phil (mentioned) all day and there he is on the leaderboard," said Hunter Mahan, who is tied for sixth at 4 under. "I think that's the greatest example of Augusta in purest form right there. You know, birdies 10, and then makes the next birdie on 12 and then eagles 13. That's the back nine at Augusta in a nutshell right there. You can be kind of hanging in there, kind of just 2 under, he's probably at 13th place or whatever, and then all of a sudden has a good stretch there and he's in first. That's very Phil, and that's very Augusta."
Two holes later, on 15, the other par-5 on the back nine, Mickelson was at it again. He missed the green long with a 5-iron.
"That pin position is by far the toughest pin position for me to make a 4 on that hole, because you can't miss short, you're in the water," he said. "And long is no bargain the way the green is pitched severely from back to front in the middle. That's not where I wanted to be."
He took out his 64-degree wedge that he always puts in his bag for the tight lies of Augusta, wound up for his full-swing flop shot with a pond sitting on the other side of the green — and put the ball within five feet of the hole. He made the birdie putt.
"It wasn't the safest shot, and that's not where I want to be," Mickelson said. "But I took on a little risk, and that's a great example of why I put a 64-degree wedge in the golf bag on this golf course."
Phil Mickelson taking a risk? At the Masters? Imagine that.
"I don't know if there's a player on Tour who loves Augusta more than Phil," Mahan said. "Loves everything about it. You can tell, he puts his coat on when he gets here. He does. He gets off the plane and the coat is on and he comes through the gates here. I think it's out of absolute 100 percent respect and pride of being the champion here. He came out Thursday morning and saw the guys (Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player) tee off. I mean, no one loves this tournament more than Phil does."
Mickelson would not disagree.
"I just want to be in position," he said. "Because there's nothing more exciting than being in the final group on Sunday at the Masters because you have a chance, and that's what we all want is that opportunity. Sometimes it works out and that's great, and sometimes it doesn't, but you still had that opportunity, and that's what we play and practice for."
