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AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Faced with a slight pause in play, Steve Flesch took a deep breath and stared at the massive manual scoreboard stationed near the green at Augusta National.
Playing partner Phil Mickelson was making a mess of the hole, so the second left-hander in the group had time to savor the moment and eyeball his eye-popping position on the board.
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| Flesch goes from outside the top 200 last year to near the top of the Masters in '08. (Getty Images) |
"I was just trying to keep my attention off the 4 footer I had for birdie, to be honest with you," Flesch said. "If somebody had a coke and a pizza I might have had a slice of that, too."
Why settle for a piece when you could have the whole thing?
For the first time in his career, Flesch finds himself squarely in the mix in the final round at a major championship, thanks to a third-round 69 that left him 8 under, three shots behind leader Trevor Immelman and alone in third place.
Flesch is the low lefty, the lone player in the top 15 not ranked in the world top 100, the oldest guy in that group and probably the baldest, too. Pardon the clichés, but when this guy says he's glad to be here, he means it.
After he finished his round, he stopped to shoot the breeze with a few scribes as his two young kids scurried around him, positively beaming.
"I'm just enjoying being out here," he said. "I know I'm behind by three going into tomorrow so I have nothing to lose.
"I've got a bunch of family and friends down, so we are just having a good time and it's making it way more exciting the fact that I'm playing well."
Flesch has always been one of the most frank and entertaining players in golf. He's painfully honest, witty and naturally funny. In a sport where massive egos are common as tiny blades of green grass, Flesch doesn't take himself too seriously, either.
In the middle of last year, he was outside the top 200 in the world rankings and his state of mind was not nearly as pleasant.
"My previous two years were pretty miserable, and I think I was ranked as high as 23rd at one time after I won Colonial a few years ago, and then I kind of went on a slide for about two years," said Flesch, who has four career victories. "Actually, it was a really steep slide.
