Phil Mickelson’s front nine on Sunday at Augusta was a thing of beauty, but his back-nine performance fell far short, due to a tentative putting stroke. Mickelson missed two golden opportunities inside five feet on holes 15 (for eagle) and 17 (for birdie), costing himself a shot at a third green jacket.
 
Mickelson’s miss at the par-5 15th underscores the importance of being committed to your line, especially on putts inside six feet. Lefty was admittedly indecisive on his read and made a “tentative” stroke; as a result, he left the putterface open and missed the hole entirely. He wasn’t alone – Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry left some big putts short down the stretch as well.
 
The tendency under pressure is to slow the putterhead down coming into the ball, which rotates the face open. Here are two ways to correct this: 1) Focus on the forward half of your stroke, accelerating the putterhead toward the hole. A good way to practice this is by practicing the Hole-y Roller Drill. Place a ball in front of your putter and, without making a backstroke, push the ball toward the hole. This will encourage the putterhead to release toward the hole and square up at impact. 2) Commit to your line or whatever it is you’re aiming at. If you see the putt as an “inside right edge” putt, then hit it to that spot. If it turns out your read is wrong, then so be it, but find out if it’s right or wrong. So long as you’re committed to your original read, you’ll make a better stroke and hit the ball more solidly.

The old adage is that it’s better to be lucky than good. Angel Cabrera was both on Sunday. His second shot from the pine straw on the 72nd hole of regulation struck a tree and careened left, onto the 18th fairway, giving him a shot at getting his ball up and down and forcing a playoff. About an hour earlier Tiger Woods found himself in a similar predicament, only his shot hit a tree and pitched right, onto the adjacent 10th fairway.
 
Cabrera, however, was able to stick his pitch shot to eight feet and make the putt for par, forcing a playoff with Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell that he’d eventually win on the second extra hole. Woods was unable to get his ball up and down. Cabrera converted the putts he had to make, including an 18-footer for birdie on No. 16 which kept him within striking distance of Perry. Despite falling three shots back and seemingly out of contention early on the back nine, he hung in there and stuck around long enough to steal his second major championship. Cabrera was 3-under par over his last six holes, which was better than Perry (Even), Campbell (-2), Woods (-1) and Phil Mickelson (-1).
 
To show you just how unpredictable Augusta National can be, and how luck often plays a big role in winning a green jacket, Phil Mickelson’s tee shot on the par-3 12th on Sunday landed in virtually the same place as Fred Couples’ shot did 17 years earlier. Couples’ ball miraculously stayed up on the bank and he wound up winning his one and only green jacket; Mickelson’s ball trickled down into Rae’s Creek, leading to a double bogey and dealing a major blow to his chances for a third green jacket.

It’s hard to pick against Tiger or Phil this week, but keep an eye out for young Rory McIlroy. The 19-year-old from Northern Ireland has all of the shots to win at Augusta National his first time out. More importantly, he’s got the confidence to win at Augusta. He strikes me as a guy who enjoys challenges. He’s comfortable in uncomfortable situations, which is the sign of a champion. Forget about the inexperience factor and this being his first Masters. The Masters is unlike any other major tournament venue because you see it every year. The players know what all the holes look and play like because they’ve been watching the event on TV since they were 5 years old. I don’t think he’ll be intimidated.
 
This could be the most eagerly anticipated Masters in years. Everything seems to be coming together for golf: Tiger is back healthy again; you’ve got young guns like Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas and McIlroy playing well, and old guys like Fred Couples and Greg Norman in the mix; and Augusta National seems to be making a concerted effort to bring the roars back by shortening a few holes. I think we’ll see some late birdies on Sunday and someone making a charge, which is just the way the Masters should be.

That was some finish to the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Sunday. And one very courageous shot by Brittany Lincicome. Not only did she need to make eagle on the 72nd hole to win the tournament, but she had to post a birdie to have a chance at even making a playoff. Under the circumstances, it was one heck of a golf shot!
 
The one thing I like about the hybrid club in that situation is that it allows you to swing more aggressively. You can really strike down on the ball, which is much easier to do than sweeping it off the turf under pressure. Brittany went after the ball hard with her 22-degree hybrid and, with a little help from the back slope on the 18th green, put it four feet from the hole.
 
The mistake amateurs typically make with their hybrids is they play the ball too far forward in their stance, as if they were hitting a 5-wood. This creates a flatter angle of approach into the ball and not the descending strike you need to launch the ball high into the air, as Brittany did. Your hybrids are shorter and more similar in length to your irons than your woods; therefore, the lie angle is steeper and so is your angle of attack. Position the ball further back in your stance, as if you were hitting a 5-iron, and you’ll make the right golf swing and hit the ball more solidly.

Both Tiger Woods and Sean O’Hair admitted to mis-clubbing late in the final round on Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, just after the sun went down. Woods’ 4-iron on the par-3 17th was “flushed” but wound up burying under the lip of the bunker, leading to a bogey which dropped him back into a tie for the lead with O’Hair at 4-under par. “I hit it perfect, and it obviously didn’t carry,” said Woods.
 
O’Hair’s miss may have been more pivotal. Standing in the fairway on the difficult par-4 16th, his approach shot ballooned on him and found the water, leading to a bogey and dropping him a shot behind Woods. It was quite a turn of events, considering that Woods’ tee shot on 16 found the rough and he was forced to lay up. Yet, it was Woods who picked up a stroke on O’Hair.
 
“It still should have carried [onto the green],” said O’Hair. “But I think what happened was the sun was going down a little bit, and the ball wasn’t going quite as far. It was a stock 7-iron that I hit solid and didn’t get there.”
 
O’Hair took one more club off the tee on 17 and for his approach shot on 18, and Woods did the same on 18, playing a cut 7-iron from 160 yards “because the ball wasn’t flying.”
 
What you can learn from this? Simply, be aware of the fact that when it’s colder outside, the ball won’t compress as much and travel as far, so adjust accordingly. For most amateurs, it’s usually a good idea to hit one more club into the green anyhow. This just serves as a good reminder.

Was there ever any doubt? Anybody else, you’re saying they’ve got a chance to make a 16-footer on the 72nd hole of regulation (in the dark, no less) to win a tournament, but with Tiger, you know he’s going to make it. The man is the best player of all time, which not only makes him the best clutch putter in the game but the best clutch everything. He hit the perfect approach shot into No. 18 at Bay Hill on Sunday, leaving himself the perfect putt. It was certainly more manageable than the 24-footer he sunk for birdie on the same hole to win last year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, although just as dramatic.
 
Tiger wasn’t at his best from tee to green this past week – he was 51st in driving accuracy and 50th in greens in regulation – but he was able to snatch victory away from Sean O’Hair on the strength of his putting game, which was remarkable. For the week, Woods averaged just 25.3 putts per round. He had a string of six consecutive one-putts in his first round and 11 one-putt greens on Sunday, many of the clutch variety. In addition to the tournament-clincher on 18, he sank a 25-footer for birdie on 15 and a 13 ½-footer to save par on 14 after burying his ball in the greenside bunker. And, had he not made a 25-foot bogey save on 18 the previous day, he would not have been playing in the final group with O’Hair on Sunday.
 
What makes Tiger such a clutch putter? No. 1, his routine is the same every time. It never varies. He takes a complete picture of the putt and visualizes what he sees before he starts his stroke. He’s not looking up for the sake of looking up. No. 2, he doesn’t hit until he’s ready to; if he’s not ready, he backs off. No. 3, he’s not afraid to hit the ball past the hole. Very rarely do you see Tiger leave a putt short. He hits his putts with enough speed to get them to the hole.
 
From a technique standpoint, he keeps his head virtually still through the stroke. It’s as if he’s seeing the putter go past him before he looks up. I call this “seeing the ground under the ball.” You do this, and you’ll strike your putts more solidly and keep them online.
 
Finally, he loves to practice putting. During most non-tournament weeks, Tiger is out there on the practice green twice a day, usually after a short game or driving session. Most golfers don’t practice putting enough and could take a cue from the game’s best putter: Practice!

Retief Goosen admittedly has been struggling with the putter the last few years, so I wasn't surprised to see him experimenting with several different putters at last year's PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda. Fast forward to Sunday at the Transitions Championship: Just what was in Goosen's hands as he ran a delicate 5-foot putt in on the 72nd hole of regulation? Of course, it was the old reliable Yes! C-Groove Tracy putter he used to win two U.S. Open titles with.
 
Nothing gives you more confidence standing over a pressure-packed 5-footer like a putter you've won many wars with, or have had great success with in the past. The positive experiences Goosen had with that putter had more to do with that ball going in the hole on Sunday than any stroke he put on it.
 
Goosen flirted with a belly putter for several weeks and even played three events with it, but went back to the shorter putter the week prior to the WGC-CA Championship. I'm not a big fan of the belly putter because it forces you to hinge your wrists, but sometimes it does your game – or, in this case, putting stroke – some good when you make a club switch because it forces you to look at what you're doing differently. You go back to being more reactionary than analytical, which is a good thing. Even Goosen suggested that the belly putter was a "good training aid" in his post-round press conference on Sunday.
 
But I go back to something he also said in his remarks. Goosen said of the old C-Groove putter: "Pretty much all of the tournaments I won, I won with that putter. So it seems to be behaving again." Notice he didn't talk about the events he lost with that putter. It doesn't hurt to experiment every now and then, but if you have a club that has performed outstandingly for you in the past, keep it in your bag. More often than not your struggles have nothing to do with the club. It's more in your head.

Phil Mickelson chipped in from off the green four times in his first 36 holes at last week’s WGC-CA Championship. He needed every one of them, too, holding off Nick Watney by one shot on Sunday to win his 36th PGA Tour title and first WGC event. Mickelson is a magician with his wedges. His talent with these clubs, in particular his lob wedge, allows him to aggressively fire at flags that most pros won’t dare go at because he’s not afraid to miss the green.
 
There are two theories when it comes to chipping: 1) You chip with a variety of different clubs and get the ball rolling on the ground as quickly as possible; and 2) you use one club to chip and you learn how to make that club work for you. Mickelson is in the latter camp. He chips almost exclusively with his 60-degree lob wedge, because he’s figured out how to make that club do what he wants. He understands spin and how the ball is going to react coming off the clubface, and he can dictate the trajectory and amount of carry and roll he wants, which is crucial in the short game.
 
Most amateurs chip with only one club – usually, a sand wedge – but either their technique is bad or they haven’t spent enough time practicing with it to get a sense of what it can do. If you’re only going to use one club, make sure you practice with it enough so that you know how it's going to perform on a consistent basis.
 
From a technique standpoint, keep the handle of the club forward of the clubhead at address and through impact. If you watch Mickelson, you’ll see that his hands are well forward through the extension of impact and beyond. He’s got the shaft leaning towards the hole and maintains that angle through impact. Amateurs have a hard time keeping this angle, especially with a lob or sand wedge, because they’re inclined to help the ball up in the air. Phil delofts the club significantly through the shot. If you want to learn how Lefty does it, head out to the chipping area and see how low you can hit the ball. This will force you to keep your hands ahead and the shaft leaning forward, so you’ll hit the ball with more spin and control.