Phil Mickelson makes Texas Open cut, hitting shot from water to set up final-hole birdie
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Phil Mickelson made the cut on the number in the Texas Open on Friday, blasting out of a greenside water hazard to 5 feet to set up a birdie on the final hole.
Mickelson shot a 2-under 70 after opening with a 77 — his worst score of the season — on TPC San Antonio's AT&T Oaks Course. Lefty was 11 strokes behind leader Steven Bowditch, the Australian who had a 67 to reach 8-under 136.
Mickelson was in the stream that runs in front of the 18th green after attempting to reach the par 5 in two from 288 yards with a 3-wood.
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"I needed to make a birdie to have a chance at playing tomorrow," Mickelson said. "Fortunately, barely went in, and it looked like the water overlapped the grass. It was not that hard of a shot."
Bowditch holed out from 83 yards for an eagle on the par-4 12th. The 30-year-old topped the leaderboard at the end of a round for the first time in his PGA Tour career.
"My wedge shots have been pretty good," Bowditch said. "I was trying to hit (the one on No. 12) a little past the pin and hope it came back to a reasonable distance. Got lucky."
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He closed the round with a double bogey on the par-4 ninth, taking two chips to get out of the heavy rough.
Chad Collins and rookie Andrew Loupe were a stroke back. Collins shot 66, and Loupe had a 70.
Mickelson has struggled this year and entered the Texas Open for the first time in 22 years to put his game under competitive conditions as a preparation for the Masters. He knew he had a chance to make the cut even after a bogey on No. 15 dropped him to 3 over.
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"I was on the green for five minutes and (the 3-over score) went from 74th to 71st in five minutes," Mickelson said, "so I figured that 3 over had a pretty good chance of making it because the scores were coming back."
On the 18th, Mickelson pulled off his left shoe and rolled up that pants leg and gave it a shot with his foot in the water.
"It's important that I get more mentally into the round like I did today," Mickelson said. "Yesterday, I was very sloppy. I like the way I'm driving the ball. My speed is back. My back feels great. My body feels great, and I'm able to hit the ball hard again."
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Plus, after having 17 putts on his second nine Thursday, he opened his second round Friday with one-putts on eight of his first nine holes. He was 3 under for the round until taking two shots to get out of a greenside bunker and bogeying No. 8.
Only two of the top 15 players on the leaderboard are in the top 100 of the world ranking. Sixth-place Kevin Na is 78th in the world and ninth-place Zach Johnson is 10th.
Bowditch is 339th, Collins 315th and Loupe 505th.