What Will Phil Do Next?
Hello. There has been much written about Phil Mickelson's US Open collapse. However, no one has said it more accurately than Dottie Pepper, NBC colurse reporter and The Golf Channel analyst.
Phil Mickelson was lucky to be in the lead. Her words (and mine). Phil Mickelson was lucky to be in the lead. Colin Montgomerie deserves our sympathies more.
The big stat that bears that out of course is fairways hit. Only 2 for 14. No way can someone win at Winged Foot with a number like that.
Another point that must be made is Phil's play on the par-5 5th hole. He was in a right-hand bunker off the tee, with a very severe lip. Instead of hitting a 50 yard shot, which would've given him a chance to still hit the gree in 3, Phil went too far into the left rough, then hit it 3 feet, leading to a bogey.
These things combined for Phil's undoing. The 18th hole was just the one that everyone will remember.
The driver on 18 was questionable, but everyone was having trouble hitting the fairway, so I'll give Phil the benefit of the doubt. The 2nd shot of course was the one when Phil first realizedhe would be fortunate to get into a playoff. That thought should've occurred prior to his 2nd shot, if not prior to his tee shot. From then on he had next to no chance.
Should his caddie have reminded him of that? All I can say is "Bones" did not survive on Phil's bag this long by suggesting alternatives to his player. Phil wasn't listening to the entire golf world 5 years ago when he was majorless. How could Bones suddenly become assertive enough that Phil would take his opinion, if laying up was indeed his opinion?
Anyway, one thing I take issue to are Nicklaus and Watson offering opinions when they didn't see what happened. At least watch the thing before kicking Phil when he's down.
What will Phil do next? A win would've put him the upper golf stratesphere with Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods. Now he'll have to find himself. It's been mentioned Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead also blew US Opens. What you may not know is Snead never won a US Open, and Palmer never won another major after those defeats.
Will Phil be able to shake it off? Maybe, but I'm not sure. His "idiot" comment was progress from 5 years ago (he never would've had that opinion then). I think it will be tough sledding for a while. I like Monty's recovery chances better.
Celebrate how you hung in there Phil. And good luck with the rest of 2006.
Regards,
Steve
Phil Mickelson was lucky to be in the lead. Her words (and mine). Phil Mickelson was lucky to be in the lead. Colin Montgomerie deserves our sympathies more.
The big stat that bears that out of course is fairways hit. Only 2 for 14. No way can someone win at Winged Foot with a number like that.
Another point that must be made is Phil's play on the par-5 5th hole. He was in a right-hand bunker off the tee, with a very severe lip. Instead of hitting a 50 yard shot, which would've given him a chance to still hit the gree in 3, Phil went too far into the left rough, then hit it 3 feet, leading to a bogey.
These things combined for Phil's undoing. The 18th hole was just the one that everyone will remember.
The driver on 18 was questionable, but everyone was having trouble hitting the fairway, so I'll give Phil the benefit of the doubt. The 2nd shot of course was the one when Phil first realizedhe would be fortunate to get into a playoff. That thought should've occurred prior to his 2nd shot, if not prior to his tee shot. From then on he had next to no chance.
Should his caddie have reminded him of that? All I can say is "Bones" did not survive on Phil's bag this long by suggesting alternatives to his player. Phil wasn't listening to the entire golf world 5 years ago when he was majorless. How could Bones suddenly become assertive enough that Phil would take his opinion, if laying up was indeed his opinion?
Anyway, one thing I take issue to are Nicklaus and Watson offering opinions when they didn't see what happened. At least watch the thing before kicking Phil when he's down.
What will Phil do next? A win would've put him the upper golf stratesphere with Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods. Now he'll have to find himself. It's been mentioned Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead also blew US Opens. What you may not know is Snead never won a US Open, and Palmer never won another major after those defeats.
Will Phil be able to shake it off? Maybe, but I'm not sure. His "idiot" comment was progress from 5 years ago (he never would've had that opinion then). I think it will be tough sledding for a while. I like Monty's recovery chances better.
Celebrate how you hung in there Phil. And good luck with the rest of 2006.
Regards,
Steve
posted by Irrelevant at 1:19 PM
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