Phil Mickelson seems to be back in his usual form. Gearing up for the Masters, the Lefty took the lead in putts per round at Jeddah. As the new stats came to light, fans couldn’t but wonder if the Hyflyers captain is looking to surpass Tiger Woods at the late stage of his career. 

Phil Mickelson fumbled at the breakaway league in his first two seasons. A T8 in LIV Chicago in 2022 and a T9 at the LIV Bedminster last year are his best shows in the upstart league. Nevertheless, heading to the second round at Jeddah, Mickelson’s game looks sharper, as the opening round stats show.

Phil Mickelson lit up Jeddah with his new putter

LIV Golf posted on their Instagram handle that Phil Mickelson was the first-round leader in putting. At 24, the Lefty carded a better score than when he led the Tour in 2017 with 27.21 putts per round. The veteran golfer made seven birdies in the opening round at Jeddah carding 5-under 65 at the Royal Greens Country Club.

In his last outing at Las Vegas, Mickelson’s putting average of 1.56 was the 11th best. Notably, the 45-time PGA Tour winner is using a new putter at King Abdullah Economic City. Mickelson parted ways with his longtime partner, Callaway, earlier this year. At Jeddah, the former Masters champion was using an L.A.B Golf DF3 for his short game.

On the other hand, Jon Rahm had the lowest round after carding 8-under 62. The Spanish International, however, had to share his lead with Adrian Meronk. Dean Burmester nailed the longest drive at 354 yards. Whereas, Bryson DeChambeau was leading the Greens in regulation.

It was, Mickelson’s round, that drew everyone’s attention, though. His improved putting stats have drawn some surprise comparisons with Tiger Woods, who withdrew from the Genesis Invitational a few weeks ago.

Mickelson outshines Woods, per LIV fans

Masters is just a month away, and Mickelson is aiming for his fourth at Augusta. Woods, on the other hand, is eying his sixth at the course he loves. One fan, however, commented that “Phil pulled out the tiger slayer.” Another fan pointed out Mickelson is in much better shape than his arch-rival. “looking much better than Tiger.” Tiger Woods carded 1-over 72 in the first round, where his shank at the 18th took away all the limelight.

Some of them pointed out that Mickelson’s new putter is working wonders. “Phil’s putter change working out well,” one user referred to his new LAB putter. However, a section of the fans were still in awe that Mickelson made 24 putts in the first round. Despite being 53, the Lefty shows no sign of stopping. “24 putts?!?!,” a baffled Instagrammer commented.

Some fans looked at the bigger picture. They noted that the leaderboard looks more stacked than the Mexico Open. “A lot better leaderboard than last week’s PGA Tour Great Value brand guys,” wrote one golf fan. One user took a slightly different path to comment that Rahm is going to dominate LIV Golf like Woods did the PGA Tour. “Rahm going tiger on this tour.” The Spaniard, a close companion of Phil Mickelson, has netted two top-ten finishes so far and is leading at Jeddah as well.