Phil Mickelson left to rue costly errors as he misses Masters cut for first time in 17 years

Three-time champion Phil Mickelson admitted expensive mistakes were to blame as he missed the halfway cut at the Masters for the first time in 17 years.

Indeed, it was only the second time Mickelson had failed to make the weekend at Augusta since making his debut at the tournament back in 1991.

After a first round of 76, the 43-year-old was always going to need something special to drag himself back into contention, but for the second day running his hopes were scuppered by a triple-bogey.

After a seven at the seventh on Thursday, Lefty fell foul of the iconic par-three 12th on Friday, finding sand no fewer than three times as he ran up a damaging six.

Why couldn't I get it going? I don't really have a great answer for you. I've actually played reasonably well for a majority of the holes and then the ones that I let slide I end up making a big number. So it's tough to overcome those big numbers.

He would eventually miss the cut by just a single stroke and acknowledged it had been a frustrating couple of days.

Not sharp

"Physically I feel great. I haven't had any problems. I've been able to play healthy. I haven't had to think about it, but I'm not really sharp," said Mickelson, who had been hampered by injury concerns in the build-up to the event. 

"Why couldn't I get it going? You know, I don't really have a great answer for you. I've actually played reasonably well for a majority of the holes and then the ones that I let slide I end up making a big number. So it's tough to overcome those big numbers."  

Of his travails at the 12th, he continued: "What happened at 12 was I hit in the front bunker. And there was no sand where I was at. I caught the liner of the bunker and bladed it across the green and the same thing happened on the other side.    

"It went back and forth, three bunkers, before I finally got it to stay on grass.       

Asked if he would continue to follow the tournament on television once he got back home, Mickelson replied: "Probably, yeah. It's an exciting tournament, I probably will. It's kind of my punishment."