If you got the chance to tune into the Nissan Open at Riviera yesterday you got to see something hilarious, yet terrible at the same time. Phil Mickelson choking, and blowing yet another tournament, this time to a skeleton (Charles Howell III).
Mickelson entered the day with a sizable lead, and quickly built that up, notching birdies on the first two holes. From there it looked like Mickelson was in command and would cruise to a victory. Then the back nine happened. Mickelson had struggled there all week long, including his mini-meltdown on Saturday afternoon. Sunday afternoon would do him no better.
Of course, it wouldn’t have been in true Mickelson fashion if there weren’t some miserable decisions along the way. His attempted chip shot off the green worked wonders, moving his ball about 6 feet forward instead of the 70 feet he needed to go. Yet somehow he managed to get to 18 with a one stroke lead, needing just a par to win. So what does he do? He rips his drive into the rough, and then proceeds to try to come up well short of the green. His pitch shot was piss poor and he missed his putt. Bogey, playoff time.
On the second playoff hole, Mickelson was sitting in position a while Charles Howell was behind two trees and on a cart path. Howell went on to hit the tree leaving the door wide open for Phil. Instead of sneaking out with the win, Mickelson shoved the door closed on himself.
Phil may have won last week at Pebble Beach, but there is no doubt that memories of the U.S. Open choke are still haunting him. I thought he may have gotten over that hurdle with his win, but evidently I was wrong. Hopefully this doesn’t ruin Mickelson psychologically, and he doesn’t fall off the face of the Earth like David Duval. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if that ends up being the case.
