Phil Mickelson donned the green jacket for the first time in 2004, winning his first Masters title by scoring 9 under 279 over the course of four days and successfully defeating one of the greats of the game—Ernie Els—by one stroke. Coming to the 88th Masters, Mickelson’s chances of victory look bleak. However, his experience and knowledge of the historical golf course may come in handy for American heartthrob Max Homa.

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After 54 holes, Homa has secured the solo 3rd spot on the leaderboard and may claim his first major victory. And to do that, Mickelson has a tricky five-word advice for him.

Phil Mickelson advises Max Homa to enjoy the challenge 

After the culmination of the third round, Phil Mickelson is currently sitting at T36 alongside his fellow LIV golfer Brooks Koepka, with whom he shared the T2 position at last year’s Masters. During the post-match presser, one interviewer chose to reminisce about Lefty’s 2004 Masters run, where, after the third round, Mickelson was in the lead alongside Chris DiMarco. Max Homa is somewhat in a similar position to what the LIV Golfer was in 20 years ago, thus, the interviewer asked whether Mickelson had a few words of wisdom for the PGA Tour golfer.

The 45-time PGA Tour winner was simple and realistic when suggesting what to do at Augusta National. Without complicating things, Mickelson said, “I don’t know. I’m going to let everybody figure it out for themselves. That’s part of the challenge.” Guess, Homa will have to learn on his own to card his first majors victory.

Homa will hope to break his majors duck at the Masters just as Mickelson did two decades ago. The 2004 win for Mickelson was the first of three times he took the Masters title home, with wins in 2006 and 2010. As such, he knows a thing or two about winning at Augusta and for Max Homa this is unfamiliar territory but he appears to be in a confident mood.

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Being two shots off a major championship lead with 18 holes, Homa was asked how he would handle the situation. He answered, “I came here with the gratitude and appreciation that I get to do it. I’m happy I get to do it tomorrow. I’m going to remind myself I’m a dog and I’m ready for this moment.”

“If I catch myself thinking about what could go wrong, I let myself dream about what could go right,” he added. “I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” he added.

via Reuters

During the press conference, Mickelson was also asked what he may say to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler as he strides for his second Masters win. Mickelson reiterated what he had said and relayed, “All that stuff is a fun challenge, trying to get your first, trying to get another one. Knowing how to score in certain conditions. All this is what makes play so great.”

It was apparent that ‘Lefty’ is a man who likes to figure things out himself and clearly would for the newer golfers who are making their mark in the sport to do the same. Even though he did not give any hacks to his fellow golfers, his years of experience did shine through as the LIV Golfer spoke about the nature of Augusta National Golf Course.

Phil Mickelson describes the nuances of Augusta National 

Augusta National is anything but predictable, whether it be the changes made to the course over the period or unpredictable weather affecting the golfers’ gameplay, the course might be the same but the experience at every Masters is different. That is exactly what Mickelson spoke about, “We’ve got to come back every year, and history is made every year, and nuances are learned every year. Shots for the first time you’ve ever seen occur,”

Giving one example of how new shots can be seen at Augusta National, Lefty narrated one made by Sepp Straka during the second round at the Pink Dogwood, where the 30-year-old golfer went on to card his first birdie of the day. The LIV golfer explained, “I saw Sepp Straka run it through the bunker on 2 yesterday. Never saw a ball run through the bunker, and it rolled up 20 feet from the hole. You see things happen that never happen before, just every year. So it’s always fun.”

It surely is fun to play the Masters with all its glory and challenges. And while Mickelson may not win the 88th green jacket, his 2004 feat might be repeated after two decades.

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