(Reuters) - Phil Mickelson likes to hone his game by playing a tournament the week before the Masters and had cause for optimism given his short-game performance at the Houston Open on Thursday.
Mickelson gave himself some confidence ahead of next week's test on the fast, sloping greens of Augusta National with an impressive display of pitching and chipping in his first round of six-under-par 66 at the Golf Club of Houston.
The big left-hander, a three-times Masters champion, blazed through his first nine holes in five-under 31 on the way to his lowest round since January to move into contention.
He chipped in on his first hole, the short par-4 10th, hit driver on the 338-yard, par-four 12th hole about 20 yards short of the green and chipped close for birdie, then nearly holed a bunker shot at the par-five 13th for another easy birdie.
"My short game actually was what threw away so many shots (last week). I spent the last three days working on that," said Mickelson, who finished tied for 30th at last week's Texas Open.
"So I was able to turn that around in a few days and the game feels pretty good."
Mickelson has yet to finish better than 17th in six starts this season and has had just two top-10s since winning the British Open in 2013.
But the lefty has a way of rising up at Augusta.
"This is a big week for me," Mickelson said. "I felt the game was close last week. The only thing missing was chipping and short game.
"If I can play well this week...it should be some good momentum for next week."