Phil Mickelson refuses to 'take bait' after random Masters question about LIV Golf

Phil Mickelson side-stepped a rather unusual question following his stellar start at LIV Golf Miami, with the six-time major winner finding his stride at the perfect time before the Masters.

The 53-year old delivered an outstanding three-under-par 69 in his first round at Trump National Doral's Blue Monster, amidst challenging weather. The HyFlyers leader was neck and neck with Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, two strokes behind frontrunner Patrick Reed.

With LIV Golf marking its third year and Mickelson a founding member, the experienced American is in pursuit of his first win on the tour. When addressing media post-round, Mickelson faced a question from a journalist as to whether he'd prefer to win a LIV Golf event or clinch a fourth Masters title.

"That's an interesting question. I'm not going to really take the bait," Mickelson deflected, maintaining his focus. "I think winning any tournament at this stage [of my career] would be a really strong achievement.

"And looking at the field that we play against here on LIV week in and week out, the quality of the players here are so strong that that would be a real accomplishment, but so would a major where you have all the best players, too. Any win is a huge accomplishment right now."

Despite his impressive form ahead of the Masters, Mickelson is fully focused on a strong finish at the Blue Monster this weekend. "I think the best way to get ready for next week and to think about next week is to really play well here," he commented.

"It's very much of a major championship-style feel test of golf, and really appreciating that challenge and taking it head on is a great way to prepare for next week.

"But I'm really having fun this week, and it's fun for me to play well. It's fun for me to have a chance earlier in Hong Kong. It's fun for me to be up on the leaderboard. I'm really enjoying this, and it's fun starting to play really well."

The opening round at Doral was marked by challenging swirling winds, with onky nine players managing to shoot under par. Mickelson expressed surprise at Reed's impressive score of 67 given the conditions.

"It was a really fun, challenging test. This is a really hard golf course, and conditions were as difficult as I've seen them," Mickelson reflected. "I got off to a rough start, hitting a poor drive on two and making bogey, and then I played really well thereafter. Hit a lot of good drives, kept it in play, good lag putting, and really good solid round.

"I look at what Patrick Reed did and just amazed because although we've seen low scores here on this course in the past, we haven't really seen them under these conditions. That was an exceptional round that he played."

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