Mickelson Eases Towards Augusta

After two rounds of the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta Phil Mickelson seems certain to win it; Jose Maria Olazabal, seems certain to finish very well and so do Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald and David Howell. And that will be an eminently satisfactory outcome for all of them, given that they all have their eyes on the greater prize.

That is not to say that a win this week would not of itself be welcome, or that the first place money, $954,000 would be sniffed at. But it is the fate of any tournament that immediately precedes the Masters to be totally overshadowed by it and the focus of many of the players at the TPC at Sugarloaf this week has been 200 miles down the road, in Augusta.

That particularly applies to Mickelson, twice a winner here and the defending champion. He may be 16-under par, leading JJ Henry by six and Olazabal by seven, but insofar as rounds of 63 and 65 can be said to be accidental, these were. ‘I was just very relaxed out there,’ said Mickelson after his two-round total of 128 set a new tournament record.

‘I kept the ball in play, was trying to make birdie on every hole and it was fun. Those rounds are few and far between for me, but I love them when they occur. It helped that I was playing with Davis Love and Olin Browne who are two, not just great players but great people.

‘They are very interesting, smart guys who have been on the tour’s policy board and have some great ideas about golf and a lot of other things. So we had some great conversation. It was really fun.’

So there you are. Just have chat with your mates on the way round, solve the problems of the world and you too can have a 63, or maybe a 65.

Messrs Donald (six under); Howell and Harrington (both five under) cannot wait to get to Augusta for the year’s first major. Harrington spoke for them all when he said: ‘Come Sunday night I’ll be thinking about my performance here. The best preparation would be to shoot four 70’s, something like that, with not too much stress - that’d be lovely preparation.’

This really is a week that is all about next week.