Phil Mickelson: 5 Things We Learned About Lefty at the 2012 Masters

To many, Phil Mickelson's triple bogey will be the one thing to remember about Lefty's performance at this year's Masters.

But one hole can’t summarize how the American played at Augusta National. The way he handled himself during the week showed us how good he is.

For starters, Mickelson added another top five at Augusta National and showed he has a lot of game left.

What else did we learn from Phil Mickelson this week?

Confidence

Many golfers would fall apart after a triple bogey and a lot more would simply vanish after knowing that one of the guys from the group in front sank an albatross to take the lead—not Phil Mickelson.

When Lefty scored a six on the par-three fourth, Louis Oosthuizen made a two in the par-five second, to get to three-under par for the day and grab the lead.

Mickelson played steady and never lost his cool; even though he fell short, he managed to continue playing in-style and recovered from the triple bogey.

Getting Better

If there's a part of Mickelson's game that's getting better by the minute, then that's putting. At the Masters he had the lowest putting average 1.49 putts per green; the average of the rest of the field was 2.91.

This year he has gained .828 strokes through putting and sits third in that department. He's 10th in scoring average with 69.84 and has a birdie average of 4.29.

Going Low

Phil had an amazing performance on the back nine, and that's where he made a difference.

From one to nine he recorded five birdies, four bogeys and one triple bogey. From 10 to 18 he had one eagle, 13 birdies, two bogeys and one triple bogey.

He played the front nine at two-over par and the back at 10-under par.

Spectacular Shots

Phil made a bunch of great shots at this year's Masters. For instance, On Saturday at the 18, he closed with a birdie after a very tough approach shot, which put him one behind the leader, Peter Hanson.

Mickelson showed his talent once again on Sunday with a flop shot on 15 to get to even par after a dreadful triple bogey.

Still in Contention

It's very tough to compete against a bunch of young players who are showing the world how good they are. At age 41, Phil still does it.

The way he handles the course and the risks he takes prove that he has a lot of confidence and that there's a lot more game in him.

Mickelson has already won once this year, at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, where he overcame a six-shot deficit and defeated Charlie Wi by two strokes.