It was the worst break imaginable.
In the final round of LIV Miami at Doral, Phil Mickelson had a short pitch to get on the green at the par-4 6th. However, his shot clanked off the flagstick and rolled back into the water adjacent to the putting surface.
Mickelson would exit the hole carding a double bogey.
It appeared the six-time major champion was rattled, as he made bogey on the next hole.
Flag to water is brutal… 🙃
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Before his misfortune, Mickelson was just a stroke back of the lead. Making the turn, though, he was five behind.
“Hitting the pin and going in the water? Yeah, it was unfortunate,” Mickelson said after a sixth-place finish. “I don't know what to say. Obviously, I hit the chip a little high on the flag, like it was going to be 12, 15 feet long, but certainly water wasn’t in play.
“I don't get why—I don’t know if it’s that the pins are those big firm—they’re not the thin fiberglass like we used to have that would absorb it a little bit better. Boy, they just ding off of these things. That was an unfortunate example of it.”
After Round 2, Mickelson was asked if he’d rather win LIV Miami (he has yet to win a LIV event in four years) or another Masters next week. A pretty wild question, considering the answer seems pretty clear, but Mickelson didn’t choose one over the other.
“That’s an interesting question. I’m not going to really take the bait,” the 54-year-old said. “I think winning any tournament at this stage would be a really strong achievement, and looking at the field that we play against here on LIV week in and week out, the quality of the players here are so strong that that would be a real accomplishment, but so would a major where you have all the best players, too.”
However, after his unlucky break on No. 6, Mickelson might be shifting his victory hopes to Augusta.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Phil Mickelson Makes Double Bogey at LIV Golf Miami After Worst Break Imaginable.
