1 week Ago By Thomas Bristow
Phil Mickelson has expressed his unwavering affection for the Masters, despite not making the cut this year. A total of fifty-three players progressed beyond the initial rounds, with the cut-off point set at two-over par. The three-time Masters champion carded a second-round 74, finishing the prestigious 89th Masters tournament at 5-over, which meant an early exit from Augusta National, missing out on the weekend play.
He finds himself in the company of former champion Angel Cabrera, as well as previous Green Jacket recipients Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal and Dustin Johnson, who all failed to make the cut. Before the event kicked off, golf legend Jack Nicklaus was unsure about Mickelson's participation due to his switch to LIV Golf. However, Mickelson had competed in every tournament last year and participated in all four events this season.
Despite achieving two top-ten finishes in 2025, his performance wasn't sufficient to see him through to the later stages of the Masters. "I had a lot of fun," Mickelson remarked. "I wish I played better.
I thought it was great. I thought that it was challenging with the wind today, but the greens were more receptive. I think they put some water on it knowing that.
I thought it was playing, fun, great challenge, hard. It's the Masters; I love everything about it. "I've been playing good golf this year, and so I'm disappointed with my score this week.
But I've been playing some good golf. I'll get back at it here soon. "It felt like this was a good week, a good opportunity for me, and unfortunately I didn't score.
It's disappointing because I felt I was playing well enough to at least be in the hunt. Yeah, it's exciting. It's the Masters.
The best players seem to rise. It's going to be an exciting weekend." He couldn't help but dwell on the possibility of better play that might have seen him competing.
"I really thought I was going to play well and get right in it," he remarked. "I can't remember - I haven't missed very many cuts here, and I'm surprised that I missed one this year because I was playing really well heading in." His fellow LIV Golf competitor and owner of a Green Jacket, Johnson, shared Mickelson's disappointment after failing to secure his place for the weekend rounds.
"I'm playing better than that I scored for sure," Johnson admitted. "Didn't score very well. Yeah, tough finish there.
Played pretty solid all day until the last two holes. But, you know, this golf course, it's a pretty tough finish. If you drive it in the fairway it's not tough.
You miss the fairway, it's difficult." He concluded with a focus on improvement: "You know, for me, just got to clean up the mistakes a little bit. The game is in good form.
Just got to limit the mistakes." This article originally appeared on Mirror US.
