He now is not eligible for the PGA Championship.
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One day after coming millimeters away from the first-ever 62 in men’s major-championship history, the Lefthander recorded three birdies on the front nine and almost aced the Postage Stamp par 3 at No. 8.
Mickelson went out in an above average 32 on the front nine (the front was playing to an average of about 33).
Then the first 62 in the voluminous history of major golf became, instead, the 28th 63.
After making birdie at Nos. “I couldn’t figure out how I missed”.
Describing the agonising miss on the 18th, the 46-year-old added: “It was right in the centre of the hole with a foot to go”.
The 36-year-old, twice runner-up at the Open, said: “I hit some good shots, obviously, but my swing didn’t feel too compact”.
“I don’t know if you know this.” he said to his longtime bagman.
“It was one of the best rounds that I’ve played and yet I want to shed a tear right now”, Mickelson said after his round. With playing partners Marc Leishman and Luke Donald waiting safely on the green, Montgomerie needed two shots to get out of the bunker, the second of them chopped backwards away from the green. Ernie Els putted out ahead of Mickelson to give him his moment.
“I think you just have to embrace it and accept it and maybe even appreciate it to a degree over here”, Johnson said.
Then there was Ben Curtis, the 2003 champion who was 18-over after an very bad round of 12-over 83 – that included an inexplicable 10 at the par-four third and seven bogeys, although there was a birdie at 18. I mean, he couldn’t hit a better putt.
Still, not all was lost.
“This one’s going to stay with me for a while because of the historical element of the major championships, ” he said.
Mickelson leads in the clubhouse by one shot from Henrik Stenson after the Swede produced a stunning second-round 65 to go to nine-under overall. That will come in handy on Friday and Saturday when the weather rolls in and tries to blow scores back down towards even par. I saw that ball rolling right in the center. We had some practice rounds and some tough conditions, so it’s not like it’s that foreign.
Sordet says the tragedy “happened about 500 meters from where I live” and that “it’s a really sad situation”.
Mickelson birdied the par-5 fourth hole to push his score to 9 under, looking to take advantage before the really foul weather moved in.
It was fun. Mickelson put some soul in this tournament early on in the week.
In his first Open Championship round in two years – the victor in 2014, he missed 2015 because of an ankle injury – McIlroy shot a two-under 69.
It’s been more than two years since Kaymer’s eight-shot, wire-to-wire victory at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. “Winning the Open was the greatest challenge of my career, and I’ve already done it”.
As he recalled how it took him until his 12th Open to cozy up to links golf – the 2004 Open at Royal Troon – partner Ernie Els had a different observation: He thought Mickelson, the 2013 Open champion, resembled some sort of multiple victor.
So now this tournament is Mickelson’s to lose after a zany, awesome first round that included 62 and a half strokes of golf.
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No one has ever carded a 62 in the Masters, Open, US Open or US PGA – and no one has come closer to breaking that jinx than Mickelson did yesterday.
