Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have been the greatest rivals and contenders for the top spot in golf since 1996. Until Woods entered the professional world, Mickelson had already won nine titles, but Woods entered and changed it with constant wins. In the past 37 matchups between the two at the, Woods has outplayed Mickelson 18 times, in contrast to 15 times for Lefty. However, the great era of the golfer, along with his competitors since joining LIV, saw a decline. The Big Cat has lost touch after his injury delay additionally, he had to suffer the sudden death of his mother. Now, with him being away from the course, all hopes for his comeback have vanished. Interestingly, Phil Mickelson has caught some glory with his performance.

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The 56-year-old, who has struggled since joining LIV Golf, has faced speculation of a downfall. He has recorded just one top-10 finish in each of the past three seasons of LIV Golf. However, now, with his comeback year, the story narrates the end of speculations and the start of the golfer’s redemption. Mickelson earlier at Adelaide recorded a T23 finish, later at the Hong Kong event, he was placed third with his strong rounds of 67-65-64.

Speaking of his performance, he shared his thoughts with Mike McAllister, saying, “The fact is, I’m hitting a lot of good shots. I’m playing some good golf. This is a building week as I continue to build into LIV and my goal of accomplishing a win in LIV as well as winning another major and getting ready for Augusta.” Well, the golfer has won his last major in 2021 at the PGA Championship, but his last Masters win came in 2010. Now, can he change that? Well, insiders are hoping for that, as the panel at the Fore Play Podcast has discussed it in brief.

Discussing his performance, Trent Ryan and Samuel Riggs discussed how he recorded his best finish at LIV Golf and beat all the major names, quoting “Jon Rahm.” Ryan continued ahead, saying, “It would be pretty sweet if he were in the mix at the Masters, that would be fun.” Even Riggs nodded, saying, “I know.” Sharing further on the expectation, Ryan kept on saying, “If he were just in the top seven going into Sunday and like three or four shots off the lead, that would be really really fun.” The six-time major winner has won the Masters three times in 2004, 2006, and 2010. Even in the past, he has been close to winning it, as in 2023, he was the runner-up. So, he is a pretty strong favorite. Now, with his form back, the golf world is hoping to see his comeback.

Not just that, but Ryan praised him, saying, “Phil is Phil. He’s one of the most interesting guys to ever pick up a golf club both on and off the golf course, so I want him involved for as long as he can be involved cuz he’s just fu___ing interesting.” Mickelson, apart from his 57 professional wins, has been making moves off the course, too. He has recently been sharing a new series of 2 vs 2 golf match play videos. Recently, the video featured John Daly.

However, after sharing the worry about his retirement due to the career decline, he shared about his aim to improve his game.

Phil Mickelson’s major improvements to get back to his 30s

Earlier, during an interview with Bloomberg, Phil Mickelson shared about his professional career end as he said, “it’s towards its end.” But later, he shared his improvement plan, which has been working, as he explained.

He pointed out about the improvement saying, “By having four months off and being able to develop a game plan I’ve been able to get to a point where I believe I can play it at the level I played out in my 30s I don’t know if that’s going to be the case. We’re going to see heading into this year. I’m going to make a push to compete at the highest level and that means you know fine-tuning all aspects of my game including driving, including speed, including putting, and all that, and getting my short game back to a sharp High the highest level. So I think that it could be good if I can do something special.” Well, the improvement can be seen now, as he openly shared about his performance when he recorded seven birdies in each round at the Hong Kong event.

Now, with the struggle and retirement pressure due to the downfall, it seemed to be sidelined as the golfer is now aiming to get the Masters with dominant form. But will he be able to win the event this year? What is your prediction about his performance? Let us know in the comments below.