Quail Hollow, NC …
Phil Mickelson soured his 25th PGA Championship anniversary and also his 100th Major missing the cut with scores of 79 and 74 for a shock 11-over par Quail Hollow tally.
The current World No. 30 arrived in suburban Charlotte having won the 2005 PGA Championship and also only sitting out the weekend rounds once before and that was in a third appearance in 1995.
However, Mickelson was always going to struggle to play all four days following his eight-over par start on Thursday, and in a round where he failed to make any birdies and in a score that was his highest in 95 rounds of the PGA Championship.
Phil Mickelson mobbed by the media after his round (Photo .. www.golfbytourmiss.com)
His second round was slightly better with 47-year old producing three birdies but also four bogeys and a 16th hole double bogey.
It also was the second cut in succssion Mickelson has missed in a Major having shot scores of 73 and 77 to be cut from the The Open at Royal Birkdale.
“I was just hitting the ball in every bad spot these two days and just not scoring”, he said.
Strangely, this downturn in form comes after Mickelson and long-time caddy, Jim McKay split but then Mickelson was not going to about to confirm a common thread.
“I don’t know how that would really affect my shots I have been hitting, so I don’t know if that would plan”, he said.
Of course, one of Mickelson’s big goals is to again qualify for the USA Presidents Cup team later next month in New Jersey.
If successful, then it would mean Mickelson would have been a member of every USA team since the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994 while his record of 11 Presidents Cup caps is an equal number of occasions he has represented the States in the Ryder Cup and having also contested every Ryder Cup since his debut in 1995.
“It is just that my play here and at the British has been atrocious, so I will have this next week off and I will come out and play the first two FedEx Cup events and if I can play well in those then I have a chance to get on the team on my own”, he said.
“If I play well in them and don’t make it, I have a chance to be a pick. But I’ve got to play well in them is the thing. The difference is I’m not searching. It’s not like I’m hitting the ball crooked, I’m just hitting it in the wrong spots.
“I m just not really controlling my thought process, where I want the ball to go. I’m not real focused out there. I’m having a tough time visualizing the shot. I’m having a tough time controlling my thoughts and not letting it wonder to what I don’t want to have happen.
“On the range, I’m having some of the best sessions, swinging the club fine, striking it pretty good and yet I’m not controlling my thought process out there.
