Mickelson still mulling decision on playing Players Championship
ORLANDO, Fla. — Phil Mickelson will be at the TPC Sawgrass next week for The Players Championship, the signature event on the PGA Tour.
Still to be determined is whether he plays. Mickelson remained coy Friday after a 78 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational whether he will compete next week. He turns 49 in June and has said it does him no good at this stage in his career to play courses that don’t suit him. At issue is big rough, and with The Players moving to March, he’s not sure what he’s getting.
“I’m going to go play a practice round Tuesday,” Mickelson said. “I’ll play nine and take a look. I mean, I want to play it, so I would most likely ... but if I hit it like this, it’s pointless, so I’ve got to figure something out.”
He might have opportunity to check it out earlier than that after missing the cut at Bay Hill.
Mickelson has missed The Players Championship only twice since he joined the PGA Tour. Once was in 1994 as he recovered from a broken leg from skiing, the other was in 2003 the week after his third child was born.
He won in 2007, the first year it moved to May.
Mickelson already missed big and beefy Torrey Pines this year, even though it’s his hometown event. He says he plans to play 20 tournaments this year, which would be his fewest since 2010.
“I want to play the ones that give me the best chance of winning,” Mickelson said. “If I don’t play there next week, I’ll add something else. And if I do play there, I’m going to take away something else, so I’m going to end up at 20. It’s just going to be how my game feels, how it looks. If it’s softer, it’s a lot easier to play.”
He said if Sawgrass gets rain or is playing softer, “I would expect I would play.”
After the Players, there are three tournaments left before the Masters. Mickelson typically plays the week before majors, but that was before the Houston Open had its spot before Augusta National taken away.