He settled instead for a 63, becoming the 28th player to go that low on so grand a stage.
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“It started on my line and it was right in the center hole with a foot to go”, Mickelson told Golf Channel.
It was a day where the course was there to be taken with little wind and plenty of sunshine, contrasting conditions compared to what is predicted for Friday of the tournament. He made a lot of putts in Hawaii.
“I’m already missing greens anyways”, he said. “The thing was going right to left all the way with no speed, so it’s incredible it didn’t go in”.
“Obviously, you have to hole some putts here”, he said. He hit 11-of-14 fairways and 15-of-18 greens and needed just 24 putts.
Phil Mickelson misses a chance at history…by mere inches.
Mickelson plopped his hand on his forehead in disbelief. Thousands of fans in the grandstands groaned.
“It was one of the best rounds I’ve ever played… and yet I want to shed a tear right now”, Mickelson said. “I went to go get it, I had that surge of adrenaline that I had just shot 62, and then I had the heartbreak that I didn’t and watched that ball lip out. It was – wow, that stings”.
“Unfortunately it took me a while to break through and ultimately win it”, he said, “but I did, and that’s what matters”.
“I was so sure he was going to make that putt”. Mickelson hasn’t won since he captured the claret jug at Muirfield three years ago.
The scenes around Troon on Thursday may not have been as significant as a final round, but they were every bit as thrilling.
There was Phil stuffing a wedge shot at the Postage Stamp 8th hole.
Phil Mickelson on the 18th hole.
In 436 majors held over the last 156 years, no one had ever shot 62. That group included Steve Stricker, the 49-year-old in his first major this year, and Justin Thomas, the 23-year-old in his first British Open.
The Big Four were mostly a Big Snore.
However, McIlroy’s came at St Andrews, which is a par-72, while Troon is a par-71. Johnson was among the many players who have said the key to winning here is to stay out of the sand, with their penal, steep faces.
WORLD Number One Jason Day has begun his 2016 Open Championship campaign with a disappointing round of 2-over.
The 53-year-old Montgomerie, who came through qualifying to appear in his home-town Open, was the early clubhouse leader after shooting an even-par 71.
“You made a lovely read and putt on that last hole but got absolutely stone-cold robbed”, Nicklaus said in a message on Facebook.
The first round, though, belonged to Mickelson, whose game many once believed was not suited for success on the bouncy, wind-whipped links of the British Isles.
Sands recalled when Mickelson, at the Phoenix Open in 2013, lipped-out a bid for 59. And he did so again with his birdie blitz Thursday.
“That was a chance to do something historical right there and to miss it that way…” he said. “It was just heartbreaking”.
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But the veteran American’s stunning 63 still gave the three-shot lead after the first round of he Open.
