Birdie barrage
Masters ready: Phil Mickelson rolls to emotional Houston Open win in front ofmassive crowd
Phil Mickelson is a Californian by birth, but Houston continues to build its case as his second home.
Mickelson certainly looked comfortable at the Shell Houston Open Sunday afternoon. He couldn't stop making birdies — reeling off five in a row at one point — and a mammoth crowd at Redstone Golf Club couldn't stop roaring as Mickelson rolled to his 39th career PGA Tour win.
In the same region where Mickleson's wife Amy underwent breast cancer treatment at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the ever-popular PGA star put up a 7-under 65 to win by three strokes. Then, he tried to keep his emotions, brought about from doing it in the Houston area, in check.
"It's pretty special doing this here," Mickelson said right after his round. "But I don't want to get emotional here. There's another pretty special place coming up and I've got a lot of work to do starting Monday."
That would be at Augusta for the Masters, where Mickelson returns as the defending champion. A suddenly Houston hot one.
Mickelson has his first win since the 2010 Masters, moving to No. 3 in the world in the process. That means he's passed his longtime rival Tiger Woods heading into Masters week.
For more on Mickelson's day and the scene at Redstone, check out a new, full CultureMap column: How Phil Mickelson avoided temptation in Houston to emerge as the Masters favorite