Phil Mickelson's Masters Frustrations Will Continue Through 2013 Season

Phil Mickelson was dominated by Augusta throughout the 2013 Masters, period.

Just check out the overall leaderboard courtesy of PGA.com.

Expect this rough outing to continue through the rest of the season.

Although he hit 71 in the first round, Mickelson's play at the time was anything but impressive: four bogeys, which carried over into Rounds 2 and 3.

There, Mickelson's shockingly porous display worsened with a 76 and 77. During this stretch of 36 holes, he stroked nine bogeys, as well as three double-bogeys, and saw his position at plus-eight entering the final round.

Yikes.

He managed only a 73 in Round 4, which put Mickelson at plus-nine for the tournament.

At the same time, Mickelson owned up to his lack of consistency and overall performance in an article by Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post on Saturday:

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“I just played terrible,” Mickelson said. “There’s no way around it. I’m just not hitting very good golf shots, missing it in bad spots and not really knowing which side I’m going to miss it on. So my play has been beyond terrible, and that’s certainly disappointing.”

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Mickelson said. “but I’ve been struggling with my ball-striking. . . . It doesn’t feel good. The ball-striking, I just don’t know where it’s going to go.”

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In short, the inability to control the ball and his swing played an enormous role. And though the Masters is one of golf's premier events, its difficulty has not affected Mickelson throughout his career: He won it in 2004, 2006 and 2010.

Augusta has definitely been one of his best events on the tour, and failing here in 2013 doesn't bode well for the remainder of the season. Mickelson has never won the U.S. Open or Open Championship, and the PGA Championship has given him issues of recent as well: He's placed outside of the top 10 the past three years.

Mickelson also put a capsule on his performance, as Chris Gay of the Augusta Chronicle tweeted:

For his sake, let's hope Mickelson finds a way to adjust accordingly. That said, getting out of this rut will be much tougher against major courses that have worked him better than Augusta.