For Keith Mitchell, maybe Michael Phelps made the difference.
Yes, that Michael Phelps.
After Mitchell finished his round at The Players Championship, he thought back to the record-shattering swimming king he credits with helping to transform his career.
“I just remember feeling like a loser talking to him sometimes, how I felt on the golf course, like pity and sorrow, and this game is hard,” Mitchell recalled from his meeting with Phelps. “He just pretty much said there’s no place for that if you want to be at the top.”
A pep talk that paid off.
Nearly eight months away from NCAA football champion Georgia’s scheduled trip to the First Coast for the Florida-Georgia gridiron classic, Mitchell and Brian Harman brought some Bulldog bark to The Players Championship.
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Mitchell battled to a 5-under 67, one shot off the lead, and Harman rallied from a shaky start to ascend the leaderboard with a 4-under 68 to highlight a promising day for the Southeast Georgia contingent in Thursday’s storm-disrupted first round.
The Sea Island, Ga. residents, separated by only 12 spots in the World Golf Ranking — Harman at 61st, Mitchell at 73rd — took The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass by storm.
They wouldn’t be the first Southeast Georgia residents to lift the trophy, a list that most famously includes two-time champion Davis Love III.
Mitchell stayed nearly trouble-free, including an eagle at No. 9 to wrap up the front nine in 33. He then birdied No. 12, No. 13 and No. 16 on his way home to a 67. If not for a bogey at 18, Mitchell would have finished as the Thursday night co-leader alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge. He didn’t get out on Friday before a weather delay.
His mindset, he said, is different now. For that, Mitchell points to his meeting with 23-time Olympic gold medalist Phelps.
“We had dinner a long time ago in Phoenix and he was talking about some really thoughtful things that apply to every sport,” Mitchell said. “I’ll never forget, it really made an impact on me. It’s not just your typical golf stuff like one shot at a time and stay patient. It was more of kind of how to act and focus on the course, which is how you would do in swim meets.”
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Mitchell’s only PGA Tour victory came in 2019 at the Honda Classic, but he’s been piling up the top-15 finishes of late: six already this season, including a tie for 12th at Sea Island in the RSM Classic last fall.
“[Phelps] was kind of helping me through some like downs and kind of really hit the reset button about a year ago,” he said. “That kind of started everything.”
Mitchell has started well at the Stadium Course before. His issue was the finish.
In 2018, he shot an opening-round 67, only to follow up with a 75 and a 78 that plunged him down into a tie for 77th. His best finish at The Players came in 2019, when he shot a 71 and a 65 before fading over the weekend to 3 under for the tournament and a tie for 47th.
This time, he’s more confident.
“I’ve had a little bit of time to adjust to the spotlight a little bit at this golf tournament, because in the Stadium on 17 and 18 is really unlike any other golf course and any other tournament,” he said. “We all players treat this like a major, so it feels like it when you’re out there. That would have been my first major [in 2018], and I definitely did not handle it very well, so hopefully I can do better.”
Harman, meanwhile, didn’t let his afternoon slip away after back-to-back bogeys.
The day brought a superb finish for Harman, who turned his Thursday around as the first golfer to hit a shot on the back nine, opening the delayed round at 7:45 a.m. A too-short approach on No. 10 led to a bogey, and he dropped another stroke after finding water on No. 11. But he found a rhythm after the weather delay, with birdies on No. 2, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 9.
That rhythm has been a recurring theme for Harman at TPC Sawgrass, particularly since the tournament’s move to March. Harman owns three top-10 finishes here, including two since the schedule switch: a tie for eighth in 2019 and a tie for third in 2021.
The numbers say Sunday could bring the strains of “Glory, Glory to Old Georgia” to the First Coast. Since 2008, 11 former University of Georgia players have combined for 38 PGA Tour victories.
What might be even sweeter than victory at The Players? For Bulldogs like Mitchell and Harman, maybe winning The Players as a Bulldog in Gator Country.
“It’s tough seeing a lot of Gator fans out there for sure, but I got a few ‘Go Dawgs,'” Mitchell said, “so hopefully they’ll be around for the weekend.”
Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.
