Phil Mickelson shoots 65 despite his worst shot of year

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As the loudest tournament in golf began making the Richter scale shake even at 9 a.m. local time Saturday, Phil Mickelson quietly began his third round in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

So far back when the sun-drenched day started, Mickelson began his round on the 10th tee and eight shots behind the leaders. Hard to believe, but he was a afterthought among the 201,003 — yes, 201,003 — people at TPC Scottsdale.

Then Phil became Phil with one outlandish birdie.

And suddenly, the three-time Phoenix Open champion started making noise. By the end of his round, he was in position to cause some racket in Sunday’s final round.

Moseying along with pars on his first five holes, Mickelson went for the green in two on the par-5 15th and hit what he called his worst shot of the year — a hybrid that flew the lake into the 11th fairway. Not the 15th fairway, but the 11th, which is about 60 yards to the left of the 15th hole. Stunned, Mickelson was forced to saunter 90 yards past the 15th green, then take two lefts amounting to another 200 yards to get to his ball on the other fairway.

Of course, from there, Mickelson promptly got up-and-down from 63 yards for a birdie and a much-needed boost. And from there, putts that didn’t fall the first two rounds started to drop as Lefty added five more birdies for a bogey-free 6-under-par 65 to move up 29 spots on the leaderboard into sixth, five shots behind leader Danny Lee.

“Over on the 11th fairway you have a perfect angle, across the green and the green just flows right down to the hole,” Mickelson joked. When he got serious, he said, “It was the worst shot of the year and I ended up making birdie.”

Somehow, Jim “Bones” Mackay, Mickelson’s longtime looper, came up with a proper yardage from the wrong fairway.

“When he walks the course, he comes up with a few of those yardages,” Mickelson said. “I have been known to be in some odd places, and he tends to have some kind of number on that.”

Mickelson has been in an odd place for some time now. He hasn’t won since capturing the 42nd Tour title of his career at the 2013 British Open. And he’s coming off a missed cut in last week’s Farmers Insurance Open. As he said this week and last, all the work he did with new swing coach Andrew Getson in the offseason just wasn’t showing up on the scorecard.

He was on the depressed side when he left TPC Scottsdale on Friday after another round in which he couldn’t match up his form with results. As well as he hit the ball from tee-to-green, his putter was ice cold and it was starting to take on a Groundhog Day feel.

Then came Saturday’s heat. After his birdie on 15, he saw a 10-footer fall for birdie on the 18th, a 12-footer for birdie on the first hole. After a tap-in birdie on the third, he saw a 22-footer fall on the seventh and ended his round on the ninth with a 29-footer for another birdie.

He signed for a 65 or better for the 107th time of his career, a total surpassed by only Tiger Woods’ 109.

“It feels remarkably different after today's round than the first couple where I felt like I was playing to this level and not getting the scores,” Mickelson said. “So to watch a few putts to go in, especially the one on the last hole to get a little bonus putt, bonus stroke, that stuff really feels good.

“It was a fun day.”

That’s why Mickelson was beaming as he left the grounds. He’s playing six of seven weeks to get competitively sharp and build on what he and Getson worked on. While he said changes that took root last year at TPC Scottsdale will make a comeback harder on Sunday because the course is longer and harder, at least he has a chance.

And a swing. And on Sunday, good results.

“I had a great offseason, put in a lot of work,” Mickelson said. “I knew from the details, the divot pattern, shot dispersion and so forth that I was playing well. … Now the divot is going down my line where I want it to. The ball is exiting and taking off down where the club is swinging. There is no manipulation. I'm just hitting a lot of good shots very easily.

“Heading into the year, I knew I was playing well, which is why I'm playing six out of seven events. I don't want to put the pressure on me to have to perform well in a select couple or few events. I wanted to have plenty of opportunities to get competitively sharp, because I knew starting the year that I was hitting the ball as well as in past years.”