By Julian Linden
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 8 (Reuters) – Phil Mickelson has
always been a risk taker on the golf course.
Never frightened to roll the dice even when the stakes are
at their highest, the American has endeared himself to a
generation of golf fans with his swashbuckling approach and
improvisation.
But even the highrollers lose some time and at the Masters
on Sunday, Mickelson gambled and lost big.
At the par three fourth hole, the left-hander’s luck ran out
when his tee shot hit a metal rail and richocheted into some
nearby bamboo shoots.
Faced with the option of returning to the tee to play his
third shot, he decided to take a plunge and play out of the
rough but made a complete hash of it.
“If it goes into people and stops right there, no problem.
If it goes into the grand stand, no problem (but) it hit the
metal railing and shot in the trees,” he explained.
“And not only was it unplayable, but I couldn’t take an
unplayable. There was no place to go other than back to the tee.
“So I took the risk of trying to hit it a few times.”
Continued…
