| Phil Mickelson has already authored the
golf leap heard around the world. His magical 18th green moment when
Mickelson entered the air to celebrate at Augusta National Golf Club
after capturing his first Masters title in 2004.
His thrilling one-shot victory was his first professional
major golf title and has since been followed up with a win in the 2005
PGA Championship last August. As he prepares for the 2006 Masters
tournament, Mickelson says he has a solid pre-game plan already
prepared.
"I feel very comfortable with knowing how to prepare
for the Tournament," he said in an exclusive interview with
www.masters.org. "I've got my routine down with Dave (Pelz) and Rick
(Smith) which has worked well for me in the past and I think will
again."
That, along with what Mickelson termed a secret
weapon, has him feeling confident for next month's Tournament, the 70th
Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
Part of his pre-Masters routine calls for him to visit
the course before the Tournament to plot strategy with his two teachers
and to concentrate on what he needs to do to claim a second Masters
victory in 2006.
Mickelson said he's unlikely to play the week before
the Masters choosing to use that time to get physically and mentally
ready for the four-day challenge.
It's hard to argue with his recent results. After
going 0-for-46 in his first professional majors, Mickelson is now 2-of-8
over the last two years.
"I think you have to find as a player what works best
in preparation, what works best in scheduling. I understand that. For me
to prepare my best, I need to get away from all the hoopla before a
major and get in some quiet practice time."
Another former Masters champion wasn't planning as
specific of a routine, but Vijay Singh, a winner in 2000 still feels
like his path to Masters preparation is the best.
He said his arrival at August National before the
Tournament was enough to get him ready for another title.
"The golf is so special, the Club just a special
place, plus they treat you so well there," he said.
After 12 Masters tournament appearances and top seven
finishes in five of the last six years, Singh said he always has plenty
of motivation when he arrives in Augusta in early April.
"It just has that thing, a mystique, about it."
To make sure he is more prepared this year than in the
past, Singh took the highly rare step of taking a week off after the
Doral tournament, before playing at The Players Championship to sharpen
his game for Augusta.
"It's something I'm very much looking forward to," he
said.
For past champions like Nick Faldo, Mark O'Meara and
Bernard Langer whose current playing are now limited, just getting
together for their early April reunion is special enough to have them
excited in 2006.
"When I was playing all the time, I would work at home
to get some of the shots I needed to get ready for Augusta," said
three-time winner Nick Faldo, the last person other than Tiger Woods to
win back-to-back titles in 1989-90. "I would work on high shots I needed
for the course or work on drawing the ball for certain times, but good
luck trying to practice your putting for there."
Faldo also revived the argument on if it helps or
hurts a player to participate in a PGA Tour event the week before the
Masters.
"I think I've actually done it both ways," Faldo said.
"I've played before the Tournament and played well and didn't play the
week before and played well so I don't know if it really makes a big
difference."
Woods has followed Jack Nicklaus' example of never
playing the week before the Masters, even turning down a chance to
defend a PGA Tour title because it fell the week before his trip to
Augusta. Singh has often played before the Masters while Mickelson has
played before, but now strictly takes the week off after his 2004
victory.
For those elite level players who have played at
Augusta National dozens of times without a victory, the internal debate
rages on how best to prepare.
"Well, obviously, I don't have it right yet," said
Davis Love III.
Perhaps no one outside of Greg Norman has wanted a
Masters title more and come up so painfully short than Love.
This will mark the 17th time the resident of Sea
Island, Georgia, just down the coast, has teed it up at the Masters and
his resume highlights include two second place finishes.
"I've won the week before the Masters (1995) and
finished second and haven't played and finished second. I've played well
before it and didn't play well at all there," he said.
Love said his decade-plus experience has taught him
that the course can change so much from week to week before the
Tournament and even day-to-day when the players arrive, that any
pre-first round preparation can be rendered pointless.
"What I've finally decided is that the Masters is a
mental challenge more than anything else and you have to be ready
mentally for four days and see what happens," he said.
Nick Price, who owns the Masters course scoring record
at 63 with Norman, said that putting and placing your shot in the right
location remains the key to doing well on the course, but practice at
the course is the only thing which can really help a player get ready.
"Going from those greens on the PGA Tour to the great
greens they have at Augusta can be truly terrifying if you're not
prepared."
Former U.S. Open winner Jim Furyk said he wasn't
bashful asking for help before his first Masters visit.
"I knew Jack Nicklaus well enough that I asked him his
thoughts before my first year there about how to learn the course, but
it's just a matter of routine and experience. Nobody has the facilities
in the world to replicate that at their home course."
Now for Mickelson's secret weapon as he prepares for
the 2006 Masters. He finally revealed what the magic might be for him -
an early week visit to the local Waffle House to meet with Pelz and some
of his short game staff for a pre-Masters breakfast.
"I like the Waffle House there. They have some pretty
good breakfasts."
To each his own when it comes to preparing to take
home the most coveted trophy in golf. |
