PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Coming off a "pathetic" putting performance, which he said made it impossible to compete at this level, Phil Mickelson returns to the PGA Tour at the Honda Classic looking to improve his play on the greens.
After missing the cut at both the Waste Management Phoenix Open and Farmers Insurance Open, Mickelson is back after a two-week break, confident about his long game but still unsure how things will go when it comes to putting the ball in the hole.
"I can putt as great as possible back home, but until you come out on Thursday -- you need to make putts and seeing the right line and getting the right speed and everything matched up -- it won't matter," Mickelson said Wednesday after his pro-am round at PGA National.
"But it's the one area that I was not overly concerned in the offseason. It was just the one area that let me down the first couple of weeks, but it's a long season."
After a tie for 24th at the Humana Challenge, Mickelson missed consecutive cuts in Phoenix and San Diego. He missed the cut at the Honda Classic last year en route to his worst season since 2003. Mickelson did not win and had just two top-10 finishes worldwide in 2014.
He spent the offseason attempting to get in better shape and felt good about his long game but has been perplexed with the short-game issues.
"I felt like, tee to green, the game was really good, and I'm hopeful I kept it there and just needed to work a bit on the greens," Mickelson said. "I putted great in the offseason but started the season terrible. Just trying to put it all together.
"We'll see. I don't know when it's all going to come together. ... Starting the year, I felt ready and was able to work on my game and practice uninhibited, and I feel like I put in the time, so hopefully the scores will start to reflect that. I don't know when that will happen, but hopefully soon."
Mickelson, 44, a 42-time winner on the PGA Tour, has not won since the 2013 Open Championship, his fifth major title. He is grouped for the first two rounds of the Honda Classic with Martin Kaymer and Sergio Garcia and tees off at 7:45 a.m. ET Thursday.