Phil Micklson needed 34 putts on Saturday. (Getty Images)

Phil Mickelson used the first two words to describe his third-round 75, but the third word seemed more fitting.

On a day when Tiger Woods shot himself into contention, Phil shot himself out of it. A double bogey at 16 from the bunker -- the last place a veteran should hit it. A spate of non-Phil-like shots. And 34 putts?

"I didn't play very well, and it was a day where there were some low scores out there,'' Mickelson said afterward. "The greens were soft, the rain softened the course, and I thought there were some low scores, I just didn't shoot one of them.''

Mickelson's 75 was as surprising as Brandt Snedeker playing his way into the final pairing. After two rounds, the man with two Green Jackets seemed poised to make a run at his third.

And he was right there at 6-under for the tournament after a birdie at the second hole. After that it was, well hit or big miss. All of which left him in the pack at 2-under-par 214 -- nine shots behind leader Trevor Immelman.

He struggled on the front nine and three-putted the eighth to turn 4-under, then bogeyed the 10th and 12th, the latter after hitting into the bunker and missing a 7-footer for par. He got it back to 4-under with birdies at 13 and 14, then hit his 8-iron into the bunker at 16. That was the killer. A double that dropped him to 2-under where he finished.

"I don't know where it really came from because I felt like I was hitting the ball well, I was hitting some good putts,'' he said. "I don't know what happened. I certainly had a little misstep on 8, but gosh, it didn't feel bad. I felt like I was going to have a good round today.

"I don't know what to say.''

He seemed stunned, to say the least, after the round. And definitely stunned for a man who putted it in from way off the green for birdie on his first hole of the tournament.

The most surprising was the 16th.

"You can't miss it right there, and I know that,'' he said. "You just have to hit it left and try to make par. ''

He was frustrated, too, with what he though were "susceptible pins" on 17 and 18 where he couldn't make something happen.