Ah, the questions professional golfers sometimes face.
Phil Mickelson has played well this week at LIV Golf Miami, and sits just three shots off the lead at Trump National Doral. Bryson DeChambeau is in front with a resurgent Sergio Garcia alone in second, but Mickelson is locked in a three-way tie for third with Marc Leishman and Patrick Reed.
Incredibly, during a press conference, Mickelson was asked this question after the first round of play:
You mentioned a few weeks ago that one of your goals is to win a LIV event. I don't want to put you in this difficult situation, but if you need to choose between your fourth green jacket after 15 years next week or your first LIV Golf trophy after four years this week ...
Mickelson has three Masters wins, in 2004, 2006 and 2010 and six majors overall. An improbable victory at Augusta National would move him into a tie for the third most green jackets, with Arnold Palmer (4). Tiger Woods has five and Jack Nicklaus won at Augusta a half-dozen times.
And in terms of majors, Lefty's six are even with Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo. A win would move him into Palmer, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, Harry Vardon and Bobby Jones, all of whom have won seven.
Of course, Mickelson was wise to toe the company line.
"That's an interesting question. I'm not going to really take the bait," he said. "I think winning any tournament at this stage 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."
Mickelson is trending in the right direction. He had the best finish of his LIV Golf career when he placed third at LIV Golf Hong Kong in March, finishing four shots behind winner Sergio Garcia. It marked the first top-five finish for Mickelson since he made the move.
In addition to his best individual finish in Hong Kong, Mickelson's HyFlyers GC earned their first podium finish, too, tying for third with Cameron Smith's Ripper GC in the team competition.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Phil Mickelson asked about winning Masters or LIV Golf Miami
