His Major Problem Is, He Keeps Going for Broke and Ends Up Going Bust

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  Watching Phil Mickelson play the Masters is like watching a lousy gambler play blackjack.

You want to look. You can’t.

You want to cheer. You want to cry.

You start out fascinated. You end up furious.

Mickelson, the greatest active player never to win a major, the Masters Disaster, climbed the leaderboard Friday in his typically perverse manner:

Step, splat, step, splat.

He was brilliant. He was bone-headed.

He hit monster drives. He chopped up baby putts.

He shot two under par for the first eight holes, climbing into a share of the lead.

He shot two over par for the last 10 holes and finished a rain-shortened second round six strokes behind leader Vijay Singh.

It was a day when the beauty of Augusta National was offset by ankle-high mud and a backstretch stench.

Phil Mickelson was like that.

“I was so-so,” he said.

So gifted. So gosh-darned frustrating.

He once captured the imagination of the sports world by winning a PGA Tour event as a junior in college, by winning five tournaments before he’d turned 25, by dueling Payne Stewart to the final hole of the 1999 U.S. Open.

But time--and 13 top-10 finishes in major tournaments without a victory--have eroded his image like an old poker chip’s.

His smile is tauter. His wave is weaker. His patience is thinner.

His, and his fans’ patience with a man who makes more than $6 million annually in purses and endorsements and has yet to make a truly big putt.

Those fans cheered him to his face Friday, but muttered about him behind his back.

“Classic Mickelson miss.”

“Typical Mickelson blunder.”

Mickelson smiled, as always, but inside, he seethed.

“I try not to listen,” he said of the people he once loved. “I really don’t notice them much.”

He has taken the same approach with reporters who once embraced him, engaging in a bristling group interview on Tuesday, then refusing to speak after Thursday’s first round, even though he was among the leaders.

It was the first time in recent memory that anyone of his stature had taken such a stand at this media-friendly place.

Instead, Mickelson worked on his putting, then left without explanation, even though the interview room was still open.

“I had 30 minutes of sunlight,” he said Friday. “I know you have a job to do, but so do I.”

That job is, apparently, to drive his supporters here crazy.

Three times, he has begun the final round of the Masters within two strokes of the leaders.

But, with an aggressive style that suits this course as well as cutoffs and black socks, not once has he gained any ground.

The story was so similar Friday, fans were laughing in exasperation.

Remember his ill-advised flop shot to the 14th green in the final round last year that led to a double bogey?

He tried the exact shot again Friday, this time spinning the ball 30 feet past the hole, leading to a bogey.

“Gee, usually he doesn’t start messing up until Sunday afternoon,” said a fan.

“My round could have been a lot better,” Mickelson acknowledged.

One hole earlier, aggressively going for a dangerous part of the 13th green, he hit his second shot into a gully behind the pin. Then he flubbed his chip. Then he finally putted up and in to save par.

“Why did he do that again?” asked a fan.

“I would not have putted it the first time anyway,” Mickelson said.

On the 17th hole, the cynicism reached its nadir when Mickelson hit an approach shot to within 15 feet.

“I bet he three-putts it,” said one fan.

“I bet he two-putts it,” said another.

The bet was on.

Still another fan laughed and said he would bet on one putt, as outrageous as that sounded to all of them.

Said the first fan, “I know Mickelson is looking at Vijay [Singh] on the scoreboard, and he’ll go for it, like always, and run the putt far past the hole.”

He was right. Mickelson ran the putt far past the hole.

But Mickelson recovered and made the second putt, earning the other fan a dollar.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt comfortable on these greens,” Mickelson said.

Luckily, for the sake of good taste, the three men were not present several minutes later at the 18th green, when Mickelson blew a six-foot putt, completing his typical afternoon at a major.

Four birdies. Four bogeys. Tied for fifth among the players who had completed their rounds.

Everyone wondering how someone so good could be so wasteful at such big moments.

“This has not hurt my chances,” Mickelson said.

Maybe not. But only five players in the last 20 years have emerged from deeper than fourth place after two rounds to win this tournament.

Mickelson has the ability to beat those odds.

If only we all still had the strength to watch him try.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com.