Phil Mickelson’s first major championship victory came at the 2004 Masters and while he admits it was a relief to finally break his duck in the big four events, it’s also his most special victory.
In one of the most exciting back nine duels in Masters history, Mickelson took down Ernie Els to win by a shot with an 18-foot birdie on the 18th which lipped in on the very last roll to give him his maiden major win.
In the twenty years that followed, the left hander has gone on to win six major titles in total including three green jackets, but it’s his win in 2004 that will always be his favourite as it evokes memories of his grandfather who passed away before the tournament.
“When you ask me what I think about, every time I look back at that moment, I think of my grandfather or I see me jumping or see that putt roll in where it goes around the hole and lips in, I think of my grandfather who passed away January of that year,” said Mickelson.
“He told me that this was going to be my first major and I’m getting chills thinking about it now because I think about him every time that I see that putt, and I think that he gave that ball a little nudge in. So that was, you know, not a moment that I see that picture or that moment, do I not think of him.”
The 53-year-old believes that landing his first major gave him the confidence to win more.
“It was a relief. I had said for a while going in that if I win one, I’ll win a bunch. I don’t know if six a bunch but it’s more than one, and that win validated kind of what I was doing as being right. I just wasn’t quite putting it together those weeks. I was making a few too many mistakes but I still needed to play the same way. I needed to be true to myself and the way I play but I also needed to be more strategic at times.
“And so that win there, you know, was a relief, and it gave me a lot of confidence that I could do this more often.”
Mickelson became the oldest winner of a major title when he lifted the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island aged 50 and he almost broke his own record as he thrilled the Augusta galleries with a share of second place last year.
Mickelson is famous for playing one of the iconic Augusta National golf shots which will be played out in highlight reels throughout next week, when he hit from the pine straw on the 13th in 2010 en route to his third green jacket.
It’s those moments of recovery, the heroic shots that make Mickelson feel so at home at the Masters.
“I obviously love the place. It’s a course where I feel I don’t have to be perfect. When I go through the gates and drive down Magnolia Lane, I relax a little bit because if we miss it on the right side of the hole, given the pin placement, if we miss in the correct side we can still salvage par utilizing our short games.
“We have shots — like the shot Bubba hit in the playoff where you hook the wedge on ten to eight, ten feet, you can still be creative and recover at Augusta, which is why I think it’s so fun to watch is the recovery shots there are so exciting because the trees are high enough where you have a swing, as opposed to take an unplayable lie and wedging out.
“I think that adds to a lot of the drama of Augusta, and you also then don’t have to be perfect. So if you hit a bad shot, you can still recover if it’s in the right spot, given the pin.
“So if you play it strategically and know how to play it and know where to go, you don’t have to be perfect.”
Pre Masters hype has been gradually increasing over the past month and it has now reached fever pitch, but Mickelson insists that his preparation for the drive down Magnolia Lane always begins in the off-season.
“I would think it would start in the off-season and the off-season was a chance to get equipment that might perform well at Augusta and start hitting the shots that might perform well.
“I remember January of ’04, I started working with Dave Pelz and we started doing some wedge work and precision iron work, and I remember coming down the stretch on 14, having to, I was trailing Ernie at the time in ’04 and I needed to make birdie, and I hit what I call a Pelz wedge, taking a little bit off a wedge shot, one of the shots he started working with me three months prior to that tournament, and I executed it there, knocked it close and made birdie.
“I think the preparation in our mind really starts before then as far as setup. One year I won with two drivers. One year I won with one driver. I’ve never won with zero drivers but I did win the British with zero drivers. Point it, you start thinking ahead, how can I get best give golf bag makeup ready for Augusta, and you start that in the off-season.
“And then I started preparation in January, working on those shots, and then was able to pull it off during the tournament.”
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