Phil Mickelson’s week was many things – but this was totally unexpected

BROOKLINE, Mass.; – Phil Mickelson is on the 18th tee at The Country Club. The hole’s a spicy dogleg left. Get ready, US Open! Or, since we’ve set up shop this week at Tom Brady’s old town, let’s goooo !!!

Our week here started in a similar, anticipatory vein, didn’t it? We’d get Phil at his Phil-est. Finally. (Phinally?) After the comments, after the exile, after the return last week with the controversial, Saud-backed group that started this whole, it has been set up with the masses, chase after ever-elusive Open win and just generally come out with his hair on fire. Instead, the latter was just slicked back.

And on day one, in his pre-tournament press conference, we got a whole bunch of…

Reporter to Phil: “How did you feel about the battering you received from my colleagues last week?”

Phil to reporter: “Well, like I have said so many times today and last week, I have a lot of people, and I respect the opinions. that everyone has. ”

Reporter to Phil: “Are you at peace with the PGA Tour again?”

Phil to reporter: “I am, again, very appreciative of the many memories, opportunities, experiences, friendships, relationships the PGA Tour has provided, and those are going to last, but I am hopeful that I ‘I’ve got a chance to create more. ”

To describe it in golf terms, the press conference was like hitting less than a driver where you could go bold. He played his tee shot above, during Thursday’s first round, the same. It’s in the rough, too.

But, but, but! Phil Mickelson is looking down at his lie. He pulls one club from his bag. He puts it back and pulls another. He’s 155 out, and he’s going to take the flag, front bunker be damned! To quote another Boston icon, Kevin Garnett: Anything is possiblllleee.

Everything was in play from the fans. They loved their No-mah. They loathed their Jee-tah. Let him hear it, Boston! A press conference of 50 reporters would be nothing like a gallery of 10,000 plus. And everybody would go home with a one-thumb salute.

They clapped. On Friday, a dozen faithful to the left of the 6th tee sang Happy Birthday. (The day before, he turned 52.)

There were some LIV puns. There were some money cracks.

Mickelson smiled, did a little thumbs-up and never made any eye contact. Since 18, one of Boston’s finest assigned to track Mickelson said he’s heard much, much worse.

A few minutes later, on our sequence from above, Mickelson hit his second shot over the green.

Nowwww, it’s gonna get good! Mickelson, after a drop to the right of the green, has a short-sided pin, about 30 yards away. Phlop, baby! Thirty yards forward, double that in the air, to within a foot. Cowboy Upright, Kevin Mill-ah ???

The six-time major champion had a lot to back up, but these are what the cowboys in life live for, right? The moment. The showdown at high noon – or in this case 1:47 pm on Thursday on hole 1; and 8:02 am on Friday on hole 10, Maybe the fans wouldn’t either, but Mickelson would flirt with the top of the leaderboard, because of course he would. It would be a story, and no one can spin a yarn, or a wedge, like Lefty.

On Thursday, he shot eight over, with five bogeys, two doubles and one birdie. Seventy-eight. On Friday, he was better – 73 – but nowhere near the cutline. Mickelson awakened somewhat with two-straight birdies on his final nine, on fun putts of 42 and 57 feet, then bogeyed the hole after that and parred out from there.

And the flop?

It flopped. He fell 18 feet past the hole, and he two-putted for a bogey.

Then he was gone.

For Portland, and the second tournament with LIV. He’ll play the rest of that circuit’s events this year. Will he be back at next Kat US Open? Will he play another major? Last PGA qualifies him, and his three green jackets get him into the Masters. But what if the powers-that-be pull the plug on the LIVers? On Wednesday, USGA CEO Mike Whan danced around anything definitive, though dropped a soundbite when he said: “I’ve heard that this is good for the game. At least from the outside view, it looks like it’s good for a few people playing the game, but I’m struggling with how this is good for the game. ”

But something was cemented this week.

You may have wondered how you felt about it all. Did you feel like it was a tragedy? After all that Mickelson has offered up over the past three decades, and this is the ending? Or fire, or salutes, or fun. We don’t have to write a better script than 78-73, a few cheers and a few answers.

You may also have felt this deserved. It was fitting. No way he knew the consequences, and as Rory McIlroy said on Tuesday: “My father said,” you have made your bed, you lie in it, and they have made their bed. That’s their decision, and they have to live with that. ”

All good thoughts. We’ll argue something unexpected also happened.

Mickelson, forever quick-witted, engaging and a contender, was none of those things.

He looked nothing like himself.

He was just another player.

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native probably plays the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can reach out to any of these topics – his stories, his game or his beers – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.