Mickelson on Pushing 46; Spieth on Grand Slam

Mickelson – 46 isn’t too old to win this one . . .

Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth, two past champions, faced the media at the Masters and answered the two best questions asked of any golfers in recent years. For Phil Mickelson, did he think he could win at his age, which is currently 45, closing in on 46, the age Jack Nicklaus was when he won his sixth Masters. For Jordan Spieth, did he think anyone could win the grand slam in a single season.

Mickelson will be 46 in June, so while he has a couple months, he is closing in on the number.

“I don’t feel old at all. I feel great. I guess maybe you hang around these young guys as much as I have been, you just feel young,” he said. “I was looking at some of the highlights ten years ago when I played in one, and I just thought, gosh, I wish I had known then what I know now about nutrition and about all aspects. I think I could have saved myself from grief in the last ten years.”

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In fairness to both Nicklaus and Mickelson, while Mickelson has played continuously since turning pro, Nicklaus throttled back after winning his 16^th and17th majors in 1980 when he turned 40. After 1980, he won Colonial in 1982 and The Memorial in 1984. The Masters was his last PGA Tour victory. He was branching out into an expansive golf course design business.

Mickelson won his first event in 1991, while he was still in college, and his most recent victory is the British Open in 2013. That’s nearly three years ago, but he has not stepped back his schedule. If anything, he played an aggressive one over the winter months.

“I’m driving the ball better than I have in well over a decade,” he said. “You can play golf for a lifetime and injury‑free if you swing the club like Bobby Jones did, like Ernest Jones used to teach, where it’s a swinging motion rather than a violent movement.”

He noted the swings of the young players who are reaching for distance.
“A lot of the young guys continue to get hurt as they create this violent connected movement, and I don’t believe that that’s the proper way to swing the golf club. I think you want to use leverage and kind of quiet your body down so the arc and club head can swing and accelerate,” he explained.

He hoped others will get that message. Plus he cited his stats.

“I was 25th in distance in 2003 at .2993, and this year I was 40th in distance at .2993, same distance,” he noted. “Certainly guys have passed me, there are some guys out here that have hit it a ton farther. I don’t feel distance is any factor as far as holding me back. Now that I’m starting to drive the ball reasonably straight and not have as many wild drives, I feel like I’m able to play and compete a lot easier, like the game is just a lot easier.”

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Spieth took a breath before he answered the question on the grand slam, a little worried that it would haunt him to do so.

“I would have said prior to last year, no,” he began. “And it’s very, almost conceited for me to say because of last year, maybe. But we were so close and it was one break here or there. Now we got the breaks this week ( Masters in 2015), and we certainly got the breaks at the U.S. Open.”

He added that Chambers Bay was the kind of golf course where you had to get some breaks to win.

“I had control of my own destiny at The Open Championship. And then the PGA, I’ll use an excuse right now and say, there was a three‑stroke difference in the draw. So say we are on different ends in the draw, I’m a lot closer there, and I started I think three shots behind, two to four shots the last day and I think I lost by three,” Spieth added.

So the luck of the draw, and some putts dropping or playing a couple holes better, and yes, he could have done it, as amazing as that sounds. He knows it, and has probably been kicking himself since July of last year.

Apr 5, 2016; Augusta, GA, USA; Defending Masters champion Jordan Spieth listens to a question during a Tuesday press conference for the 2016 Masters at Augusta National GC. Mandatory Credit: Michael Madrid-USA TODAY Sports /

“You need those kind of breaks. It seems silly, right. It seems like you can overcome that in a major, but it makes a difference. You have to have everything go your way to win a golf tournament, let alone to win a major, to have that happen the four times in a year in those four weeks,” he added.

Even though he admitted that he got many good breaks last year, he wasn’t able to pull it off.

“I think it can happen, but especially with the way things have changed in media and just the lack of ability to stay private, if someone wins the first three majors, it’s going to be very difficult to shut out the noise by the fourth and to still play your own game,” he concluded, spoken like one who knows.

As far as the Masters, both feel prepared, but as Mickelson said, “Well, for ten to 15 years, I played this tournament, and I’d come in prepared, and I still was never fully prepared. You cannot over‑prepare for the golf tournament.”

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“I’ve had a fantastic couple days thus far preparing and game feels great,” Spieth said. “Going to try and just use last year as momentum. We know we’re capable of playing this place. We have proven it to ourselves the last two years.”

Spieth’s concentrating on consistency and said he’s waiting for birdie opportunities to present themselves.

Mickelson pointed out that today, because of the lengthening of the course, those birdies are few and far between.

“There are no longer any holes outside of the par 5s that are easy birdies, other than No. 3,” he said. “The par 4s now are so long and tough that you’re coming in with mid and long irons more often than short irons. We used to hit a lot of wedges in here and now we don’t. So there’s not a lot of birdie opportunities.”

Because of the slope and speed of the greens, players cannot go for the flasgsticks the way they can at a PGA Tour tournament. Golfers will have to be prepared for long lag putts and long birdie or par putts.

As Mickelson put it, “You’re going to have to make a lot of 20‑ to 40‑footers to make birdies on the other holes.”

But both feel like their games are rounding into shape, and they both know the course.

“I’m putting pressure on myself to contend this year, just like last year and I feel like I’m in form, as well,” Spieth said. “We’ve already done it, so it’s not like it’s something‑‑ it’s not like I’m chasing my first major. We have two major championships now. So we feel like there’s an advantage, if we can get into contention against those who are searching for their first. We know how difficult that was to sleep on, and to sleep on leads and in contention in major championships when you haven’t capitalized.”

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“We’re here on a golf course that has suited me well in the past and for the first time, I really feel like coming into this tournament, I’m not trying to find anything or search for anything,” Mickelson said. “I feel like my game is coming along. I feel like the game is starting to be easy again.”

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