Notes: Mickelson ready for new jacket? – The Masters Tournament
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Another two days like this one, and Phil Mickelson will be shrugging on his third green jacket, whatever size he's wearing these days.Mickelson went through the second round without a bogey across breezy Augusta National for a 4-under-par 68 and a 5-under 139 total, three behind leader Trevor Immelman. Mike Weir and Steve Flesch were the only other guys in the field of 94 starters to do it. And all three are left-handers.
“If there was any one key, I think that I played for par on a lot of the holes, and was able to make par and also scatter some birdies in there,” said Mickelson, who won the Masters in 2004 and '06.
Mickelson birdied No. 1, got the requisite birdies at the two par-5s, Nos. 2 and 8, and was out in 33. He muffed a 4-footer for birdie at the 15th, but rolled in a 30-footer at the 17th.
“I seemed to put the ball in the spots where I was able to make some easy pars - not necessarily great birdie chances, but easy pars,” he said, thinking of a flock of 4-to-6-footers.
As to his chances?
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I would rather be leading, I would love to have some shots in hand, but I'm only a couple of shots off the lead.”
A CHIP OFF THE OLD GREEN - Brandt Snedeker not only made one of the rarest shots it golf, he holed it out - a chip shot on the green at the par-3 No. 6.
It seems most people think golfers can only use a putter on the green, and those that know better think it's cruel and unusual treatment. But a golfer is free to use whatever gets the job done. Snedeker was facing a tough shot over a slope.
“Then I made probably one of the luckiest shots I've ever hit on No. 6,” he said. “I had to carry a slope, and ended up somehow making it.”
It was one of his five birdies in a 68 and a 137 total, one off Immelman's lead. A three-putt bogey at the 16th cost him a share of the lead.
ODDITY FOR THE LEADER --- Is this a bad sign for Trevor Immelman?
Most Masters winners make considerable hay on the par-5s. Defending champ Zach Johnson, for example, though a medium hitter, played them in 11 last year. Immelman is just 1-under on them through 36 holes. He birdied the 15th in the first round, and parred all the others.
His secret? Putting. He's been averaging 30.50 putts per round on the PGA Tour this season (a weak 196th in putting), but he's averaged 27 for two rounds at Augusta.
PALMER ON WRY -- This left over from early Thursday, when Arnold Palmer smacked his ceremonial opening tee shot into the dense fog. “I hit it out of sight,” Palmer cracked.
COUPLES MISSES RECORD - The cut came at 3-over 147, with 45 players making it, and most notably one not making it - Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champ.
Couples was aiming at breaking Gary Player's record of 24 consecutive cuts, but his 72 in the second round did him in by a stroke, at 148. He's now 23-for-24. His streak had begun in 1983, and his missed two Masters, 1987 and '94.
ELS STUMBLES AGAIN - Ernie Els (74-74) missed the cut for the second straight year. He's not finished in the top-25 since finishing second to Mickelson in 2004.
Other surprise misses: Sergio Garcia 76-72; Brett Wetterich, 73-75; Charles Howell III (77-71); Luke Donald, 73-75; Steve Stricker, 73-77.
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