ORLANDO (AP) -- Phil Mickelson will be sharing a locker at Augusta National with Charles Coody, another Masters champion who knows something about finishing strong to win a green jacket.
Coody won the 1971 Masters, rallying from a two-shot deficit against Johnny Miller on the back nine with birdies on the 15th and 16th holes. He won by two over Miller and Jack Nicklaus, finishing at 9-under 279.
Mickelson also trailed Ernie Els by two shots at one point on the back nine, but birdied five of his last seven holes last year, including an 18-footer on the 18th to finish at 279 for a one-shot victory.
Masters champions have their own locker room atop the clubhouse, and most of them share a locker. Mickelson returned to Augusta National in October and saw the Champions Locker Room for the first time, but his locker had not been assigned.
Coody said he watched Mickelson's victory and was happy to share a locker.
"I'm not around him very much,'' Coody said from Newport Beach, Calif., where he is playing a Champions Tour event. "The only regular tour event I'm at is Augusta. And with him not having won before, he wasn't up in our locker room. I imagine he'll be up there a little bit now.''
Coody, 67, owns Diamondback Golf Club in Abilene, Texas, and continues to play a full schedule on the Champions Tour. He last won in the 1998 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf with Dale Douglass.
Assuming his health is good, he plans to play in the Masters for two more years.
Coody recalled earning $25,000 for his victory in 1971, when the total purse was just under $200,000. Mickelson earned $1.17 million last year from total prize money of nearly $6.3 million.
"Maybe he'll leave a little money in there, even some petty cash,'' Coody said with a laugh.
Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
