As confounding as they might be, Mickelson’s failings are part of what makes him so popular. Fans everywhere adore him. Even tough New Yorkers, who’d razz their mothers without a second thought, have nothing but love for Lefty.

To them, Mickelson is Everyman. While Woods sometimes seems beyond human the way he humbles courses and opponents alike, Mickelson has the same struggles as everybody else. Going for the green when you should play it safe? Three-putting on 17 at the 2004 U.S. Open? Find a weekend duffer who hasn’t done that. And who hasn’t cringed as the numbers on the scale crept a little higher each year?

“In golf, you deal with failure a huge majority of the time. Even the best player in the world deals with failure more than he deals with success,” Mickelson said. “That’s part of the game. That’s part of competing, is dealing with failure. Part of the challenge and part of what makes golf fun or what makes competing fun is trying to bounce back from disappointing performances.”

So instead of curling into a ball and letting the debacle at Winged Foot derail the rest of his career, Mickelson took it as a learning experience. After years of working relentlessly on his game from 150 yards in and his putting, he realized his driving needed a refresher course.

He spent the offseason focusing on it, and the work was evident at Pebble Beach, where he hit 81 percent of his fairways. PGA Tour stats had him missing only one in his final round, though Mickelson said he missed by a foot on No. 9.

“Because I’m driving the ball so much better now, or feel that I am, I have a lot more confidence than in years past,” he said in February. “If I can get the golf ball in play like I did (at Pebble), I think I can have some pretty good performances. If I can get from 55 percent of the fairways up to 75 percent of the fairways, it’s going to be a very good year.”

SPECIAL FEATURE His best score on each hole at Augusta

He also shed some of the weight that was making him look more Lumpy than Lefty, hoping it will improve his endurance — and results — at the end of the season. He changed his diet and his workout routine, adding weightlifting and a martial arts program. He says he’s lost 20 or 25 pounds while adding 15 pounds of muscle.

Though Mickelson hasn’t finished in the top 10 since the Nissan Open, where he blew his lead on 18 and lost to Charles Howell III in a playoff, don’t count him out at Augusta. He’s comfortable on that course — or as comfortable as anyone can be.

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And that collapse at Winged Foot aside, Mickelson is capable of sheer brilliance. The high expectations of him are there for a reason.

“It’s hard to fail if you’re never there in the situation. Obviously at Winged Foot he put himself in that situation, he screwed up, and he’s the first one to tell you that he did,” David Toms said. “(But) you look at him as one of the guys you have to beat in major championships now. It was that way before, but he’s won three of them now.”