While making the cut at The Masters is a huge achievement for many of the past champions who are the other side of 50, you would imagine that Phil Mickelson is not going to be satisfied with simply playing at the weekend at Augusta National.
Phil Mickelson is going to be one of the most intriguing names to watch at The Masters. The 54-year-old is the only three-time champion set to tee it up at Augusta National.
While he should be entering the twilight of his career, Mickelson is arguably playing a lot better right now than he did for much of his 40s. The 2025 season is already the first time that Lefty has registered two top 10 finishes in a single year on LIV Golf since the current format began in 2023.
And while he ended up finishing five shots adrift at LIV Golf Miami, he did appear to be in contention to win at Doral until Mickelson received an awful break in his final round when his chip shot smashed into the pin and ended up in the water.
Dan Rapaport predicts how Phil Mickelson will fare at The Masters
Mickelson has recently proven that he can still compete at Augusta. He finished tied for second in 2023 – and he won a major title less than four years ago.
So perhaps it should come as no surprise that, speaking on Dan on Golf, Dan Rapaport tipped the HyFlyers captain for a big week when asked about whether a LIV Golf player will contend at the first major of the year.
“I’ll say yes, probably. Rahm has got a ton to play for. Bryson’s wedges looked really good yesterday. My thing is I think Phil’s going to finish in the top 10, I really do. He was playing well again last week at Doral. Hard golf course, windy golf course. Obviously, he has some level of control with the driver. I think Phil’s going to give us a thrill this week,” he said.
What Mickelson said after his 65 at the 2023 Masters earned him a second place finish
Mickelson tied his low round around Augusta National on Sunday in 2023, with his 65 moving him to within four shots of eventual winner Jon Rahm.
What the golfing world has learned in recent years is how dangerous it is to count Mickelson out. Whatever you think of him, it cannot be denied that his longevity is one of the most impressive achievements in golfing history.
And speaking after that final round two years ago, he noted that he was optimistic that there was plenty more to come from him.
“I’m hopeful that that’s the case. I feel like it was evident to me that I was hitting a lot of good shots, that I was playing well; I wasn’t getting the score out of it. Today was a great day for me to stay present and just keep hitting good shots. Even after I might have had a mess-up here or there, I was able to stay present, keep hitting good shots,” he said.
“And I’m hopeful that this kind of catapults me into playing the rest of the year the way I believe I’m playing. I really worked hard in the off-season to get ready. I’ve been shooting some really low scores at home, and today I kind of let it happen rather than trying to force it, and I had a really good day and made some noise.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t enough, but it was really a lot of fun for me to play at this level again, and it’s encouraging for me going forward the rest of the year.”
It would clearly not shock a lot of people if another top 10 at Augusta was just around the corner for Mickelson.
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