Mickelson prepares for Augusta

Phil Mickelson spent two days practising at Augusta National for next week's Masters, but he will focus on defending his title here when the PGA BellSouth Classic tees off Thursday.
The US veteran, fourth in the world golf rankings and still seeking his first triumph of the year, won a five-way playoff for the title last year, outlasting Spain's Sergio Garcia on the fourth extra hole.
"There was a lot of chaos," Mickelson said. "The only thing I remember was that big check for 900,000 dollars." Mickelson, with six top-10 showings in eight starts here, sees the 5.3 million-dollar event on the Sugarloaf course as a perfect place to prepare for next week's first major championship of the year.
"It's set up just perfectly. It's great for the guys that came here to get ready for the Masters," Mickelson said. "It's similar to what I saw at Augusta the last couple of days. I think it will be a great test."
World number one Tiger Woods and South African star Ernie Els said changes to lengthen the course have taken all but the biggest drivers out of title contention. Mickelson disagreed.
"I don't think that the course makes it only so long hitters can win. I think anybody can win there," said Mickelson, who captured his first major title at Augusta in 2004.
"The reason I say that is the course is so long now that the long hitters used to be able to hit wedge into some of these pin placements and get it close, so it's there's very tough pins.
"Now that we're hitting mid irons in, we can't get those pins anymore either. I think it almost equalises it a little bit.
"I know it's playing longer and people are saying it's a great advantage, and it is, but we can't get close enough to the greens now to have a short enough iron to get at some of these pins. So we're playing for par just like everybody else.
Mickelson, who won last year's PGA Championship, said he feels no greater pressure now to perform well in the majors than he did before winning one.
Also entered here is world number three Retief Goosen of South Africa, England's 10th-ranked Luke Donald and American top-16 standouts Davis Love, David Toms and Chris DiMarco.
Scotland's Colin Montgomerie withdrew from the event, preferring more private preparations for his bid for a first major title next week at Augusta.