Masters 2012: Final Updates for Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods

The Masters is less than 24 hours away, and barring some sort of catastrophic event, the two most popular American golfers are heading into Thursday with one thing on their mind: winning

Yes, this is the case every year for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, but this year is different. The 2010 and 2011 versions were not the same, as Woods dealt with all of the personnel issues and backlash that wreaked havoc on his game.

Now that the incident back in Nov. of ’09 is long gone, the focus is back to the golf course. He finally notched his first win in 30 months and as Jeff Rude of Golfweek says, everything has finally come together for Woods:

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His success of the last month is simple: It's a culmination of his finally being healthy, being able to practice and becoming more comfortable with his 1 1/2-year-old swing. 

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He’s back, and the sport of golf is more exciting because of it.

On Wednesday’s Par 3 Contest, Mickelson finished three-under which placed him tied for six. Woods interestingly enough did not participate. Feel free to draw your own conclusions from that. Either way, both players are in strong form entering the most important event of the season.

By the surprise of nobody, the four-time green jacket winner Woods is the favorite to land his fifth with 4/1 odds. Rory McIlroy is second at 11/2 while Mickelson is right behind him in third at 11/1.

There is no question the two Americans are going to be pitted as head-to-head opponents throughout the weekend like usual, but for the first time in 30 months, it feels real again. This isn’t just hyped up by the media for better ratings.

This is going to be a fun weekend.

Woods is scheduled to tee off on Thursday morning at 10:35 a.m (ET) while Mickelson will be in one of the last groups, beginning his day at 1:53 p.m.

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