Phil Mickelson putting meltdown at U.S. Open is epic
- by Grant Boone
- in Sports
- — Jun 17, 2018
"I'm sure he is going to regret that".
"I think he just snapped". Mickelson went on to play the rest of the round, often smiling and acknowledging the crowd - and occasionally trying unconventional shots just for the heck of it, like putting up a bank behind the hole on No. 14.
Mickelson, who was already four over par for the day, badly overhit a putt on the 13th green which looked in danger of rolling off the putting surface.
On his 48th birthday, Phil Mickelson endured a testing afternoon in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
In fairness to Mickelson, the best aren't immune to a brain freeze or a meltdown and he'll surely put his act down to something like that.
But the five-time major victor prevented that from happening by running after the ball and hitting it while it was moving, a breach of rule 14-5 which incurs a two-shot penalty. He hit his third back over the green on the other side and finally got on in four.
"I said, "That is one of the strangest things I have ever seen" and started laughing, and said "sorry" about laughing, " said Johnston, a jovial Englishman with the nickname Beef.
The most recent time something like this happened at a major tournament was John Daly at the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, when he hit a moving ball on the green en route to an 83 and a dead-last finish.
He then missed the next putt and tapped in, having hit it eight times. In that situation, I was just going back and forth.
There was some initial confusion about Mickelson's score, both among Fox's crew and the U.S. Open website, which initially gave Mickelson a nine for the hole.
However, Berger's score, which equalled the lowest of the week so far, proved that it was possible to make up ground, the world number 43 carding six birdies and two bogeys to move just outside the top 10. "As a result, he incurred a two stroke penalty for a breach of Rule 14-5".
