The China Mail - New slimline Mickelson says he is close to his best again

The 52-year-old, is in the chasing pack on four under-par 140 after shooting an impressive three-under 69 in Friday's second round to follow up his solid opening 71 at Augusta National.

"I'm close to going on a tear. Even though the scores haven't shown it, I'm hitting so many good shots, pretty soon I'm going to have a really low one," he said after ending his round with a birdie on the par-4 18th.

"When that happens and it clicks, then the game feels easy again. Then I stop putting pressure on myself, and the scores just start to fall into place."

Six-time major winner Mickelson, who now plays in the breakaway LIV Golf League, said he is convinced that his showing so far at Augusta is much more than just a brief hint of his old glory days, when he battled with Tiger Woods at the pinnacle of the sport.

"You wouldn't think that at 52. You'd say, 'Oh, well, what a great couple of days, really all it is,'" he said.

"It's just on the precipice of playing as well as I played 15, 20 years ago because I'm seeing that when I'm at home, I'm seeing that in practice. I'm just not quite letting it happen when I'm out in the tournaments yet."

Mickelson said the breakthrough he expects could even happy on golf's biggest stage this weekend.

"It's possible. Who knows when it will click. It could click tomorrow (Saturday). I don't know. Part of it is just slowing my mind down and letting it happen and then it clicks. But that's kind of the biggest challenge in the game is not forcing it," he said.

"I'm actually looking forward to the weekend. I know I've been hitting it, playing better than I've been scoring, and I'm looking forward to just putting one round together that I know I'm capable of, and if I do that, it's going to be a really fun weekend."

- Slimmer, trimmer Phil -

The most visible change to Mickelson has been his weight, with the American cutting a much slimmer figure at Augusta.

The three-time Masters champion said playing on his Hy Flyers GC in the LIV Golf League has motivated him to make changes to prolong his career.

"I want to give myself a chance to play for a few years and experience a new format and something new and exciting and be with teammates. So I'm having fun, and if I'm not in shape, I can't do it," he said.

"I lost 25 pounds (11.33 kg). I also lost muscle, so I had to start lifting, and I've been lifting and slowly have been getting my speed and strength back to where I need it to be," he said, noting that the better conditioning of the modern player meant he had no choice but to shed the pounds.

"I'm just going to keep it going this year and continue down that path because, if you watch some of these guys out here today, how far and how fast they're able to swing the club, it's really amazing," he said.

"It doesn't mean that they're going to win. You still have to hit the shots and manage your way around the game, manage your game around the course, but I've got to be in shape to be able to have a speed that allows me to compete."

R.Lin--ThChM