Tiger and Phil are the new Jack, Arnie
Woods, Mickelson have won five of past six Masters championships
 | Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won five of the last six Masters, and there is little evidence to suggest the 71st Masters will be any different when it starts Thursday. |
Morry Gash / AP file |
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AUGUSTA, Ga. - Daybreak at Augusta National brought together the two most prominent figures at the Masters, the first showdown of the week between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
OK, so it was only Tuesday. And it lasted only a split second.
Woods showed up on the first tee and looked back toward the putting green in Mickelson’s direction.
“Let’s go,” he said.
He was talking, of course, to Mark O’Meara, who picked up his golf balls and joined his buddy for a practice round.
It is easy to exaggerate the rivalry of Woods and Mickelson, especially at the Masters. Snapshots on late Sunday afternoon the last few years have been Mickelson slipping the green jacket on Woods, or vice versa. And while there are 97 players in this year’s tournament, at times it seems as though there are only two.
Woods won in 2001 — oddly enough, the only time he has played with Mickelson in the final group at the Masters — and in 2002. Mickelson won his first major at the Masters in 2004. Woods answered with a playoff victory in 2005, Mickelson won in a walk in 2006.
It is reminiscent of the early 1960s, when Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus traded green jackets.
“I hope not,” Mickelson said, “because that would mean what I don’t want it to mean this week.”
Woods is favored to continue the cycle this week based on recent history outside of the Masters. He already has won twice this year, in the Buick Invitational and the CA Championship at Doral, and he is going for his third straight major championship.
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“Last year was a lot more difficult than I was letting on, because I knew that was the last tournament he was ever going to watch me play,” Woods said. “I just wanted to win one for his last time, and didn’t get it done, and it hurt quite a bit.”
Happier memories come from 10 years ago, when he walked into his father’s arms after a watershed moment in golf. Woods obliterated the course and his competition, finishing at 18-under 270, a score that probably won’t be touched for a long time considering how much Augusta National has been super-sized since then (from 6,925 yards to 7,445 yards).
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“We both marveled at the way he was playing, and how good we thought he was,” Palmer said. “Let’s just be up front about it. He hasn’t disappointed us. If he puts his whole life into the future of his game like he has to this point, there’s no telling what he might do.”
Mickelson, however, presents a serious obstacle to Woods at Augusta National, if he is not already an equal.
Woods is 2-up in green jackets, but Mickelson has a more consistent record over the last 10 years. Lefty hasn’t finished out of the top 10 at the Masters since 1998, while Woods has had three years since that year when he never seriously contended.
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