PGA: Weir can’t deny Mickelson his second senior tour win
RICHMOND, VA.— Phil Mickelson likes to play aggressively and found the PGA Tour Champions’ stop at the Country Club of Virginia the perfect place to begin his preparation for next month’s Masters.
Bombing drives like he will have to against the younger set on the PGA Tour, Mickelson shot a 7-under 65 and became the third player — the second this year — to win his first two starts on the tour for players 50 and older. He slammed the door on Canada’s Mike Weir with a back-nine surge Sunday in the Dominion Energy Charity Classic.
Mickelson finished at 17-under 199, one off the event record set by Miguel Angel Jimenez last year.
“I put a new driver into play this week, trying to get a little more pop, a little more carry. It was a little wayward at times, but it was also effective in allowing me to play this course the way I wanted to, which was aggressively,” Mickelson said.
Mickelson beat fellow lefthander and second-round leader Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., by three strokes. The fellow senior circuit rookie closed with a 71 and said putting was a problem.
“I haven’t been in this position in a while, but I felt very confident,” Weir said. “I hit one poor tee shot on No. 7. Outside of that, I played really well and just didn’t get anything really out of it.”
Mickelson joined Bruce Fleischer and Jim Furyk as the only players to win in their first two senior events. Fleischer accomplished the feat in 1999 and Furyk did it this year.
It was Weir’s third top-10 finish in eight starts on the tour. He three-putted the par-5 18th, but still hung on to second place by a shot over Paul Goydos.
“I was low right-hander this week,” Goydos quipped.