Phil 2004: Principal perspectives
Vignettes from the main characters in Mickelson's Masters breakthrough
For nearly 18 years, I was lucky enough to serve as the golf columnist at The Augusta Chronicle. This meant getting to write cover stories for the Chronicle’s exhaustive Masters Preview Edition. Unfortunately, when the Chronicle redesigned its once pretty awesome Augusta.com website, all the hard work we produced prior to 2012 or so disappeared entirely from the digital realm and was left only to tattered and yellowed newsprint in the morgue.
On the 20th anniversary of Phil Mickelson’s maiden major victory at the 2004 Masters, I’ve resurrected all the pieces of my takeout on Lefty from the dusty papers. Here is part 3 of that look back with the principal characters in his journey. Enjoy.
These stories first published April 3, 2005, in the Masters 2005 preview edition of The Augusta Chronicle. (Part 3 of 3)
The Victim
He is called “The Big Easy” because of his size and smooth swing. It’s Ernie Els’ demeanor, however, that often suits the title so well.
Few great athletes carry themselves so casually. Of all the marquee players in golf, Els is the one you’d most want to have a beer with. He’s likable, approachable and rarely wound too tight.
So after one of the most spectacular 67s ever posted in the final round of the Masters, and a potential playoff looming, Els seemed at ease standing on the practice green, keeping loose and eating an apple.
“It was either take a nap or eat an apple,” Jim Nantz said during the broadcast. “He’s never too unnerved.”
That was before Phil Mickelson sank his final putt and the ensuing eruption delivered the news to Els that his hopes were sunk.
“I never watched anything going on, but I got a feeling he was going to make birdie,” Els said. “So I kind of cursed myself. That was really hard to take.”
For a man who’s won three majors and lost a few others, Els never looked so shaken. His caddie, Ricci Roberts, agreed with a telling bark: “You would think a (expletive) 67 would be enough. My man did all he could do. This wasn’t meant to be.”
Els said as much in a revealing post-tournament interview that was anything but easy. He seemed more beaten than in any of his other near misses. Who knew then that he would have three more excruciating major missed opportunities in 2004?
“It’s disappointing,” Els said. “I’ve got to take stock after this. It’s very tough for me to explain exactly what I feel right now. …
“I always had a sense that this was my year. I had this image in my mind all day that I’d finally be wearing that green jacket. I played as good as I could. What more can I do?
“You know, I guess Phil deserved this one. He played great down the stretch. He won this one. He didn’t lose it like some of his other ones. He won this one and full credit to him.”
Els’ round included eagles on the par-5 eighth and 13th holes.
“I gave it my absolute best shot,” Els said after the tournament. “I’m very disappointed now but I’ll get over this no problem. … I’m going to look myself in the mirror tonight and say, ‘Well done.’ It’s one of those things. That’s golf. I’ve had some good wins and I’ve had some tough losses. And this is one of the tough losses.
In a way he sounded very much like Mickelson had for so many years, right down to his final thought that night.
“I’ll have another shot,” Els said. “I’m sure of that.”
Els has played the good sport before with questions about Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh getting the best of him and the field on other major Sundays.
But Els called this Masters disappointment his most painful: “I guess so. I’ve never played like that before on the final day.”
The immediate flight home to Orlando, Florida, wasn’t the tonic. “We had about a case of beer before we touched down and that didn’t help the pain go away,” he said.
While the Mickelsons celebrated late into the night in Augusta, Els talked on the porch with his wife, Liezl, and mother until late before retiring for a fitful night’s sleep. Like Mickelson, Els’ children – Samantha, 5, and Ben, 2 – injected perspective.
“That’s a great thing about having kids,” he said. “You go through something like that and Samantha just gave me a hug. She didn’t care if I was shooting 67 or 77.”
The Witness
Chris DiMarco had the best seat in the house for Phil Mickelson’s winning birdie putt. Here’s how Mickelson’s final-round playing partner viewed three key birdies coming down the stretch.
On No. 14, DiMarco’s approach released to the back fringe and stuck while Mickelson’s snuggled up a foot from the hole.
“That’s when you could start to tell it was Phil’s time,” DiMarco said.
On No. 16: “He made that putt on 16, which was a great putt to tie it,” DiMarco said. “It was by far the loudest I’ve ever been in. The only thing I can remember like that was when (Jack) Nicklaus won in ’86 … and I was watching on TV then.”
On 18, DiMarco’s approach to the green fell short in the bunker, and his first attempt failed to get out. “I was just trying to get out of his way,” DiMarco said.
His second bunker shot released and settled just inches behind Mickelson’s mark.
“Having Chris’ ball end up three inches behind mine so I didn’t have to guess on the read – I knew exactly what it was – that was a good break,” Mickelson said.
DiMarco shrugs off the luck.
“Everybody thinks I gave him the line, but that’s overrated a little bit,” DiMarco said. “You could see it was his time. I could at least. If you look at pictures of me standing over there, I knew he was going to make the putt.”
The Caddie
If he’d ever been asked the question, Jim Mackay undoubtedly had no comment. If he was the best caddie to never win a major, “Bones” was lifted as high as his boss with the victory.
“When I went and hugged Bones, the feeling was it was hard to believe we finally did it,” Phil Mickelson said. “We’ve had so many close calls together. Bones has been with me from day one. He’s ridden the waves with me, and there’s been a lot of waves crashing on us in final rounds. To be riding on the top of the wave this time was really cool.”
Bones – as he has been known to everyone ever since Fred Couples blurted it out when he couldn’t remember his name – started his caddie career in 1990 for Larry Mize, the Augusta native and 1987 Masters Tournament champion.
“It’s my dream job,” Mackay said. “There’s nothing I would rather do.”
A Columbus, Georgia, native who lived for years in Athens, Georgia, before moving recently to Scottsdale, Arizona, Mackay hooked up with Mickelson as soon as the amateur and collegiate superstar turned pro in 1993. He has been on his bag for every one of his victories as a professional and for every one of his major near misses.
Bones doesn’t normally speak on the record to reporters, but he couldn’t avoid the mob seeking a little insight from Mickelson’s left-hand man after one of the most remarkable Masters finales.
His low-profile assessment of the blistering back nine rally: “He hit shots and made putts. What can I say?”
There was a lot more to it than that, and Mickelson credits Mackay’s advice for helping set up two of the biggest birdies coming home last year.
The first was on No. 14. Mackay recommended a higher, softer pitching wedge from 146 yards instead of the hotter 9-iron Mickelson was considering. Mickelson stiffed it to a foot.
Then on No. 16, Mackay reminded Mickelson of the 7-iron that went too long on Friday and led to a double bogey. Mickelson went with what he called a “stock 8-iron” from 178 yards to leave it in a spot where he could make the uphill birdie putt to draw even with Ernie Els.
“After Phil made that putt, he came over to me and gave me a nudge. ‘Let’s get one more, Bones,’” Mackay said in Mickelson’s newly released book, One Magical Sunday. “He had this unbelievable look in his eye. I just knew he was going to do it.”
After the putt on the 18th green, the two embraced with Mickelson shouting “We finally did it!” into Bones’ ear.
Bones left the green, never letting go of the pin and the flag he would dutifully remove for his boss’ collection. He celebrated with dinner at T-Bonz, receiving congratulations from other caddies, including Els’ bagman Ricci Roberts, before going home to see the birth of his first child, Oliver, four days later.
“It has been a very emotional week for both of us,” Mickelson said. “I think he feels as overwhelmed and as incredible as I do.”
The Legend
Before the weekend in 2004, it was Arnold Palmer’s Masters. The ending seemed like a tribute to the once – and future – King.
Phil Mickelson is often compared to Palmer. His rapport with the fans and his aggressive playing style draw natural parallels to the four-time Masters champion who stole the hearts of golf fans for 50 years.
Two days after Palmer smiled and waved goodbye in an emotional farewell to the Masters, Mickelson joined the green-jacket club with a roaring finish, a smile plastered on his face and legions of fans on his side.
“That comparison is very flattering to Phil,” Amy Mickelson said of the Arnie connection. “And the fact that he won his first major when Arnie was leaving, it meant a lot to him. It was a very special time for him to embrace the moment and finally break through.
“What was fun about the way Phil won was that it was kind of an Arnie charge, coming down the stretch and making birdies. If I were to guess from what Arnold has talked about Phil, I think he’s very proud of the way he finally got it done.”
Palmer certainly admired Mickelson’s winning style.
“I was very impressed with Phil and his performance in the Masters last year,” Palmer said. “I think he won the tournament and that’s what it was all about. That was the way I liked to feel like I was playing, when I was playing very well there. There was no backing in. It was an up-front, aggressive approach. I get the feeling that that’s what they really liked it Augusta, the fans and the people watching. They liked to see that approach. And they liked to see it happen that way.”
Mickelson’s aggressiveness has long been a source of criticism from the media. The fallout from a particularly daring shot that failed in the 2002 Bay Hill Invitational prompted the so-called “Mickelson manifesto,” in which he declared he would never change his style just to win a major.
Palmer responded to that criticism with a supportive note to Mickelson.
“He said, ‘I know you’re taking a lot of hits right now, but you need to keep playing the way you are,’” Mickelson said of the note.
Palmer admitted his aggressive style might have cost him a few tournaments, but it won him many more.
“I felt that he was doing what he thought he had to do, and that was the way to do it,” Palmer said of the note. “That’s all I said. What the hell: if you feel like you can do something, do it. It’s still a game. Play it like a game.”
The Voice
Jim Nantz didn’t even realize he said it. The words just came out as he watched one of the many replays of the climactic putt.
This one a close up of Phil Mickelson’s face.
“Watch his life change right here,” Nantz said on the CBS broadcast.
It was the right line at the right time, which really is all a sports play-by-play man can hope for. But it’s the picture Nantz marvels at the most.
“That really was a life-changing event for Phil and his whole family,” Nantz said of the Masters victory that altered the historical context and trajectory of Mickelson’s bright career. “How many times can you look at a moment that changes a family’s life – on tape?”
How would he mark Mickelson’s moment in history to be called back on tape for as long as the Masters is played?
“It’s been one of the great days in Masters history, plain and simple,” Nantz said as Mickelson readied for the final putt. “And now it comes down to one putt for the win.”
Seeing the co-leader beaming on the 18th tee in spite of all the pressure behind and in front, Nantz delivered the words Mickelson later said was “like reading my mind.”
“You look at him, and he has a total look of joy,” Nantz said. “It’s as if he’s already seen the outcome and knows he’s going to win.”
Nantz started the Sunday broadcast with a rhetorical question: “Will this be Phil Mickelson’s day at the Masters … at long last?”
His words came full circle in the end with the perfect call as the final putt rolled toward the cup.
“Is it his time? Yes! At long last.”
As the euphoria washed over the final scene and Mickelson made his way to the arms of his family, Nantz offered the right perspective.
“On Friday, we said goodbye to one of the most popular champions, if not the most popular champion, the game has ever known,” he said, referring to Arnold Palmer’s 50th and final Masters farewell. “And it’s hard to believe there’s a more popular winner in any single year than Phil Mickelson in 2004.”