Even from a distance, Mickelson incites the roars

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- I remember being a kid in Montreal in 1976 and hearing the Seals and Crofts song "We May Never Pass This Way Again."

I've never been to Montreal since.

That song was in my head again early Sunday afternoon while I was in the media center at Augusta National, so I walked a thousand yards or so to Amen Corner, the most famous intersection in golf.

The weather was nothing less than perfect. The green, as you may have gathered if you watched CBS' coverage in HD, was green. And for 80 minutes I watched the players come in two by two, putting on No. 11, trying to clear Rae's Creek with their tee shots on the secluded 12, and teeing off on 13.

I saw three of the 16 players put their tee shots on 12 into Rae's Creek. I saw others go long and the hole and hit their second shots from precarious positions.

I saw Robert Allenby make triple-bogey, two other players make double-bogey, and the 16 players have an aggregate score of 8-over on the hole. The only birdie came from 1988 Masters champ Sandy Lyle, who at age 51 had a wonderful tournament.

Amen Corner was unusually roomy for a Sunday. Lots of people were there, of course, but far more elbow room was there than I remembered passing through the previous two years while following Zach Johnson on Sundays.

That was because so many of the people on the course were following the pairing of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. For that, I was grateful.

The loudest crowd-reactions at the intersection of 11, 12 and 13 were when Mickelson's name surfaced on the giant leaderboard to the side of the 11th green, and when numbers were posted to indicate Mickelson had birdied another hole.

I headed back uphill toward the media center, not wanting to get caught in the stampede of followers of the two most-beloved active players in golf. I approached the tee box ropes of No. 8 as another roar was sounded, one of those famous Masters roars.

This one just about knocked me backward.

Mickelson had birdied No. 7, his fifth birdie in his first eight holes. He had gone fro 4-under to 9-under, and pulled within two strokes of the lead.

I moved over near the No. 9 green and waited for Mickelson and Woods to finish No. 8 and make their way back the other direction to wind up the front nine.

There, I bumped into former University of Iowa football player and current NFL game official Scott Helverson, who was with his dad and other NFL refs Donald Carey and Garth DeFelice.

"Wow, is this exciting! Isn't it, though? Gol-ly," Helverson said as the leaderboard behind was changed to show Mickelson and Woods had both birdied 8, which we sort of gathered based on the roars in the distance. Augusta roars.

Woods' tee shot on 9, downhill from us, was just off the second cut, in some pine straw. Mickelson was considerably further off the fairway and into the straw, in a place you don't want to go.

"This is the shot of the tournament if he gets par out of this," Helverson said.

(AP photo)

Mickelson, like Woods, got his par. Mickelson's approach reached a greenside bunker, he hit a chip within three feet, and exhaled after his downhill putt trickled in the jar.

I opted not to trek the back nine with the throng following Woods and Mickelson, and watch the rest in the media center on television where I could actually see the shots and follow the tourney.

Mickelson parred 10 and 11, then it was his turn at 12. Splash. Into Rae's Creek, and a double bogey.

But, as you know, Lefty was far from toast. Tiger, too.

Until later, anyhow.