7. 18.2011
LEfty’s
puttiNG;woEs
the record book will show phil mickelson finished t- 2,
three shots back of darren clarke at the british open.
given his past performances at the open, we couldn’t
have foreseen that. Just as assuredly we couldn’t have
expected him to putt so poorly. or could we? the numbers belie what the eyes witnessed. phil mickelson came to
royal st. george’s ranked in the top 25 on the pga tour in
putting from three feet, five feet, six feet, four-to-eight feet,
putting average and one-putt percentage. he left the british
open with espn analyst paul azinger saying mickelson will
eventually be “the worst short putter in the entire hall of
fame.” mickelson missed short putts every day, including
one from little more than a foot on the 11th hole thursday, another short miss on 11 sunday and a six-foot birdie
miss on 14 that kept him three back of clarke, effectively
ending his chances of victory. the putting woes tarnish
what was undoubtedly his best performance in the oldest
major championship, and perhaps his most inexplicable.
prospects were dim when mickelson came to southeast
england, his only top- 10 at the british open, a solo third,
having occurred seven years earlier. he arrived in sandwich without dwelling on the past. “i’m trying to pretend
like it’s my first time here,” he said. “[i] don’t want to look
back on my past performances that haven’t been what
i expected.” this wasn’t what we expected either. and
that’s a shame. —John Antonini
02
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coVer // contents //
10 things // british open // rank & file // pga tour //equipment // tim rosaforte
