After just another 'Lefty-like' round at the Masters, how is Phil Mickelson not a bald, insane man?

Phil Mickelson isn’t my favorite golfer, and he’s certainly not the best out there.

But if I can get a front row seat to watch any PGA Tour player for 18 holes, it’s gotta be Lefty.

It seems like every round of Mickelson’s these days is a wild adventure, full of duck hooks, bail outs, miraculous chips and long prayers to save par. He has more hot and cold moments than a recovering junkie.

How can Mickelson stomach this insanity round after round? I feel my own hair falling out, blood pressure rising every time is see him peering through a tiny opening of pine needles. Masters.org should have a “Phil-Only” channel to go along with their “Amen Corner” and “15 & 16″ channels. But instead of Ian Baker-Finch or Nick Faldo offering color commentary, there should be a certified psychologist trying to find the rationale in Mickelson’s thought process.

Here’s just a few of the shots from his first round at the Masters that made up just another round from Lefty:

It began with him lying two well left of the first green. He took out his putter from probably 20 yards off the green on hard pan, rolled it up the slope towards the hole and did a 360 around the cup before dropping in for a birdie.

Then there was his approach on 13. After a roped drive into perfect position, he pulled a shot right into what appeared to be imminent doom in the creek. He put his head down and sulked up to the creek and then found a pleasant surprise: his ball had defied gravity to stay dry. He hit a little routine chip (for him at least) to four feet for a birdie.

On 16, which most players seemed to be able to put within 15 feet of the hole no sweat (including Ian Poulter’s perfectly played shot off the slope that led to an ace), he pulled his shot left again, hit a pretty pedestrian chip to about 15 feet before rolling in a par save.

“I don’t want to call this a ‘typical’ round by Phil but…” noted one analyst on ESPN while Phil was on the 16th green, before admitting these antics weren’t all that eye raising. We’ve seen this movie before.

Yet look at his final round stats: He’s one shot ahead of Tiger Woods, who had 15 pars, two bogeys and a chip-in eagle. On paper, Phil appeared robotic, hitting 10/14 fairways and 14/18 greens. It looks like your run of the mill, under par round. But even Phil has to know he’s hanging onto red numbers by a tiny thread no stronger than the hairs on that screwball noodle of his.