ORLANDO, Fla. ' Phil Mickelson likes what his putting portends for the Masters in two weeks.
He doesnt like what he saw in his ball striking in Thursdays 1-over-par 73 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Mickelson pushed a tee shot out of bounds at his ninth hole of the day (No. 18) and pushed another in the water at his 12th hole (No. 3). He made double bogeys at both holes.
I fought back hard to get it back to 1 over, Mickelson said. I putted really well today, and I just made some very poor swings.
Mickelson, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am earlier this year, is focused on getting his game sharp in a bid to win his fourth Masters title at Augusta National.
Yeah, Im certainly thinking about it, Mickelson said. This is our stretch, my stretch, starting here into Augusta. What is good about that is, regardless of how I play, I’m going to fight hard on every shot, and I’m going to be working on my game because I have something to keep striving for, even if I don’t play well. And if I can get hot, I can hopefully contend and get back in it to compete here at Bay Hill.