After still ending up all square, Mickelson threw a few shade at the Internationals by telling the media “I feel like we spotted the Internationals’ best team two holes and they still couldn’t beat us”.
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The match was all-square after six when Mickelson inadvertently used a different specification of ball on the next tee, and when the mistake was confirmed, the rules committee disqualified him from the hole.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announced Saturday that Melbourne will be the host when the Presidents Cup next is played outside America.
Jordan Spieth made 7-foot putts on the last two holes to complete the biggest comeback of the week and allow the Americans to escape with a split of foursomes matches Saturday morning at the Presidents Cup.
On the seventh hole, Mickelson informed officials he changed the model of Callaway ball he was playing.
Confused? So were the players.
Internationals captain Price, who played in five Cups, said he had been on tenterhooks for the duration of the day. “I’ve never heard of that before”. “We never had a non-one-ball rule that I can think of in these formats, and I don’t know why I asked after I hit it. I just double checked”.
“After brief discussion, the committee advised the walking referee incorrectly that Phil was disqualified from the hole”, said Mark Russell, the head official and a veteran of the PGA Tour. You need to know the rules and if you have a question, you do it beforehand. “It’s just unfortunate that he was told he had to pick up the ball”, Haas told reporters.
If a match is 2-down after 17 holes, shouldn’t they keep playing in case this happens again?
Spieth, however, played overly cautious with a wedge that left Johnson a 30-foot putt that was extremely fast at the hole, and he ran it 7 feet by. It essentially means you must use the same type of ball for all 18 holes. And Mickelson wasn’t bothered that his team had to settle for a halve.
The incident will be remembered much longer than the bunker shot Mickelson holed on the 12th hole when he and Johnson rallied.
“So he had to stand up and man up and hit that golf ball; I’m pretty sure he was shockingly nervous”, said Lee. Check out his insane hole-out from a bunker for eagle just 5 holes later.
So, in theory, they could have lost only one hole or possibly none if the rule had been applied correctly.
Most of the momentum, however, was with the Internationals.
He paired Bae with Seoul-born New Zealander Danny Lee, also a Presidents Cup rookie, for the four-ball match Friday against Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker. Thongchai Jaidee, fresh from his Porsche European Open win, and Charl Schwartzel won 2&1 to give the Internationals a realistic chance of winning only their second Presidents Cup in the tournament’s history.
That match ended halved, as did the next fixture, which saw Bae Sang-moon and Hideki Matsuyama fight back on the last to earn a half-point against Bill Haas and Matt Kuchar.
The worldwide pairing of South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace won holes 8, 9 and 10 to jump into a 2-up lead. Leishman made his putt for par, and Watson missed the 5-foot birdie putt for the win.
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“That was my entire objective”, Watson said. “We can’t wait to welcome golf fans from all over the world to visit our renowned Sandbelt and see for themselves what makes Victoria great”.
