Mickelson is seeking a third win in the Masters. (Getty Images)

There are many who would say he's still the man to beat, though, despite the fact that Mickelson will start the third round of the 73rd Masters Tournament three strokes off the pace.

The supremely talented lefthander is the only player among the top seven on the leaderboard with a major championship on his resume -- and two of Mickelson's three came right here at Augusta National.

For the numerologists among us, he has won Green Jackets in the last two even-numbered years. And don't forget that this is 2008.

Friday's 68 left Mickelson tied with Steve Flesch and Ian Poulter at 5 under, two shots behind Brandt Snedeker and three in back of Trevor Immelman. Tiger Woods, Mickelson's chief rival, was in a tie for 13th at 1 under, seven strokes off the lead.

"I would like to have some shots in hand," Mickelson admitted. "But I've hit the ball well and I've been playing well. I'm only a couple shots off the lead and I'll be able to play late in the afternoon on Saturday and hopefully on Sunday, as well."

The notorious wanderer knew just how to traverse Augusta National on Friday. Mickelson, who shot 33 on the front nine, didn't make a bogey on the warm, clear and increasingly breezy afternoon. He's only done that twice in 59 previous rounds.

"Yeah, I thought that was pretty good," Mickelson said with that aw-shucks grin of his. "I haven't looked back on it, but I seemed to put the ball in the spots where I was able to make some easy pars. I guess that would be one key is that I hit a lot of good shots to a spot that allowed me ... not necessarily great birdie chances but easy pars."

The last time Mickelson played a bogey-free round was the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship last year. Mickelson went on to win that event, beating Tiger Woods, Brett Wetterich and Arron Oberholser by a shot.

Mickelson had a chance for a fifth birdie, and a 67 that would have tied Flesch for the low round of the last two Masters. But the lefthander overplayed the break and missed a 4-footer that he later said "wasn't that hard.

"And I had made so many good par putts, four to six footers, that that one left a bad taste," Mickelson said. "But after making the one on 17, that leaves me feeling pretty good about the day."

Those 30-footers that curl into the hole will do that for you.

"I putted great today," Mickelson said. "I made some really good putts this morning on the front nine, and I hit some good putts on the back nine that didn't go in until 17. The only one that I probably should have made was 15 and possibly 16, but otherwise I felt like I made a lot of good ones today.

"I'm not going to complain."

Mickelson birdied two of his first three holes on Friday, which kept him in touch with the leaders and his gambling instincts in check. He'll play in the penultimate group on Saturday as a result, with his sights set on another 43-long.

"I'm always looking to see what the leaders are doing," Mickelson said. "You want to stay close. You don't want to make any big mistakes and get way out.

"But if you're falling behind you've got to take a little bit more aggressive approach to some pins and try and make some birdies. I was fortunate where I was not too far back and I didn't have to make a lot of tough decisions."