Phil Mickelson's near-ace highlights strong second round at British Open
Phil Mickelson torched Royal Troon on Thursday, missing an all-time major-record 62 by less than the width of a golf ball. For Mickelson, the question always is, how will he handle prosperity? The answer on Friday: quite well.
[Complete British Open leaderboard]
Mickelson controlled his game in a way we haven’t often seen in his career, and carded three birdies on the front nine to push his total to -11 and extend his lead to as many as five strokes over the field. The highlight came at the Postage Stamp, the fearsome eighth, where Mickelson avoided complications entirely by nearly acing the darn thing.
Mickelson also caught a real break with the weather; rains held off until he made the turn, and winds didn’t well up for most of his round. He probably won’t play as well over the weekend, but he won’t have to, since nastier conditions likely mean no one else will, either.
Wearing two gloves, a British Open tradition he adopted starting in 2011, Mickelson held on through the second nine, despite a pair of bogies, to retain his clubhouse lead at -10. His first bump came at the 12th, when he hit two straight shots into the gallery and ended up bogeying the hole for his first over-par hole of the tournament. The 12th hole was also the site of a small rules controversy, but thankfully not one that took hours to resolve:
Mickelson later birdied 14, but immediately gave back the stroke the very next hole to drop to -10. One of the more remarkable par saves of Mickelson’s weekend then came on 17, when Mickelson, heels against the back of a greenside bunker, punched out to within feet of the cup. A short putt for par, a routine closeout of the 18th, and Mickelson ended the day at -10, two strokes better than he’d began.
Mickelson’s double-figure mark established a clubhouse lead, but not necessarily an impregnable one. Henrik Stenson crept within a stroke of Mickelson as the morning wore on, and with unpredictable conditions, the door was still open for someone in the afternoon slate to make a run. Regardless, Mickelson will be around for the weekend for the first time in a major this year and in fine position to claim yet another major.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.