It wasn’t a 60, but it was good enough to extend his lead to 4 shots over youngster Kevin Na heading into the final round of the Phoenix FBR Open. The likes of K.J. Choi, Kenny Perry, and Steve Flesch remain within five, but this is now Phil’s tournament to win or lose.
Going into the 15th, Na and Mickelson were knotted at -12. From 238 on the par 5 hole and a bit unsure of the wind direction, Na yanked his approach just a bit left, ran through the bunker, and trickled into the water. He wedged his penalty drop to four feet and missed the par putt, while Mickelson played safely after a poor drive and parred. On 16, Na three-putted to Phil’s good save from the deep, deep bunker. On the short par-4 17th, Phil birdied and Na made an ordinary par, a situation that repeated itself on 18.
With the largest single-day attendance ever on record – 165,000 drunk, screaming fans – Phil had a good time. “It was a fun round,” said Mickelson. “I mean, there’s a lot of people out there. It was pretty interesting. It felt like I shot over par because of yesterday, but it was good enough to get in the lead.” Kevin Na had a bit less fun, saying “…that crowd pulling for Phil so much and that little … misstep kind of … affected me on the last couple of holes.”
Hank Kuehne, who started the day T5, shot a blistering 80 to drop to a tie for 71st among the 77 remaining competitors.
Pos Player Total R1 R2 R3 R4 Total 1 Phil Mickelson -14 73 60 66 - 199 2 Kevin Na -10 68 65 70 - 203 T3 K.J. Choi -9 72 66 66 - 204 T3 Harrison Frazar -9 73 65 66 - 204 T3 Kenny Perry -9 70 67 67 - 204 T3 Steve Flesch -9 70 67 67 - 204 T7 Mark Calcavecchia -8 74 66 65 - 205 T7 David Toms -8 71 66 68 - 205 T9 Tim Herron -7 73 66 67 - 206 T9 Charles Warren -7 69 68 69 - 206 T11 Scott McCarron -6 72 70 65 - 207 T11 Scott Verplank -6 73 66 68 - 207 T11 Stewart Cink -6 68 70 69 - 207 T11 Shaun Micheel -6 70 67 70 - 207
Phil Mickelson’s last victory was the 2004 Masters, and tomorrow’s final-round coverage will be handled by CBS from 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET.