Mickelson prefers to do it his way

US MASTERS COUNTDOWN:THEY ALL drive up Magnolia Lane, the great and the good of this game. Yesterday was no different, although the arrival of Phil Mickelson – wearing sunglasses and causally dressed in jeans with a shirt outside the denim rather than tucked in – created probably the most reaction of all.

It’s a sign of the changing times that Lefty, not Tiger, is the man who demands all of the attention around Augusta National Golf Club these days.

As a three-time US Masters winner and the defending champion, Mickelson’s impressive win in the Houston Open on Sunday was perfect timing. Ben Crenshaw, who knows a thing or two about winning breeding confidence, remarked: “It’s good for his game. Most of the time you see a string of good play before someone wins the Masters. In essence, you catch a wave of confidence in your game and you want it to spill over here.”

Mickelson wasn’t the only one to arrive in from Houston. Lee Westwood, despite a scare with his private jet which necessitated an emergency landing after smoke infiltrated the cabin shortly after the first take-off, checked in but was downplaying the incident. “It’s never good when the pilots put on their masks and goggles. We had three fire tenders chasing us when we landed, but that was really just a precaution,” said Westwood, while Pádraig Harrington – after a second top-10 finish in his past three outings – also registered, his near two-week old facial hair growth left unshaved but possessing a jaunt in his step.

Harrington, indeed, has decided that he will adopt a more leisurely on-course practice regime than has traditionally been the case. The Dubliner, competing in his 12th Masters, confined himself to the range and short game area yesterday and plans to play only 18 holes in total over the next two days ahead of the start of the tournament on Thursday.

The one concern lingering with Harrington’s game, despite following on his top-10 at the WGC-Cadillac with a tied-eighth finish in the Houston Open, is his driving: he is ranked 159th in driving accuracy on the US Tour this season and that is an area he will need to tighten up on around this course.

For US Open champion Graeme McDowell, there was no holding back. Having arrived here on Sunday, G-Mac yesterday played a full round with Justin Rose and Ian Poulter and, looking very much at home, McDowell’s draw – the shot of choice on this course for right-handers – looked to be spot-on. He looked very much at home.

But nobody is more at home on this course than Mickelson, and his win in Houston had similarities to his win in the old BellSouth tournament in Atlanta in 2006. Back then, Atlanta was the last tour stop before the Masters and, on that occasion, Mickelson carried his winning form on to Augusta and duly claimed the Green Jacket.

Of course, it’s a player’s choice whether to play the week before a Major. Woods, for one, doesn’t tend to. Mickelson, in contrast, prefers to. “Each player as an individual golfer has to find out what’s best for them to prepare for a big event. And I find that I tend to play my best in a Major when I compete the week before. It gets me into competitive frame of mind and I enjoy the challenge in only having three days between competitive rounds. So that for me, personally, works.

“But I know that (Jack) Nicklaus and a lot of guys prefer to have the week off and kind of focus in on that one particular golf course and those shots. I understand that. There’s an argument both ways. As a player, you have to find out what works best for you,” said Mickelson, who leapt to third in the world rankings – with Woods slipping down to seventh – and who has moved within touching distance of world number one Martin Kaymer.

Mickelson added: “I certainly like the way that I play the golf course (at Augusta) and I’m very pleased with the way my game is coming around. I’ve a lot more confidence heading in because the one area that I’ve been not doing as well as I usually do, which is seeing a shot, visualising a shot, being able to hold that picture throughout the swing and executed, I started to do much better (in Houston).”

And of a suggestion that contending and winning in Houston would sap some of his energy, Mickelson remarked: “I look back in ’06 (to the BellSouth win). I think it’s nothing but a plus to be able to gain some momentum, especially given that I haven’t had the results and the scores that I wanted to earlier in the year.”

When Mickelson paid a reconnaissance visit here last Tuesday, before travelling on to Houston, he played a round with Rickie Fowler. “He beat me up,” said Fowler of how Mickelson outplayed him in that practice round. It was a portent of what was to come at Houston over the weekend.

Although Mickelson has delayed any celebration of that 39th career win, preferring instead to wait until the season’s first Major is out of the way. That’s the one he really wants.