Thomas misses the cut along with five of the past 10 winners
Flamboyant American has dismal second round Harrington, Clarke and Mickelson also drop out
With 30mph gusts giving way to the type of downpours usually associated with a biblical curse, you would have thought that experience would have been key to conquering the conditions yesterday.
Yet as the cut came down on five of the past 10 champions, Royal Birkdale proved to be no course for old men. Padraig Harrington, the last winner of the Open here in 2008, Darren Clarke, Stuart Cink and Louis Oosthuizen all fell by the wayside but the highest profile casualty was the 2013 champion, Phil Mickelson.
A year after finishing runner-up to Henrik Stenson in the single most memorable climax to an Open Championship, “Lefty” was well fancied to go one better here.
The 47-year-old himself was in a chipper mood a couple of days ago. “I really thought I was prepared. I felt like I was ready. I thought I had a good game plan. I thought my game was sharp,” Mickelson said before adding a quicker disclaimer. “Obviously I wasn’t.”
An opening round three-overpar 73 was the first time he failed to record a single birdie in an Open round since 1999, which was disappointing rather than disastrous.
He may have even have harboured thoughts of putting himself back into contention after picking up a birdie at the first. Then the wheels came off. A triple-bogey at the second was the catalyst for a seven-over-par round of 77 that left him 10 over par for the tournament.
Even if it was only his fifth missed cut at the Open in 24 years, Mickelson at least managed to address it with some gallows humour.
“Unfortunately, it’s the first cut I’ve missed this year and I missed it with flair,” Mickelson said. “It’s just one of those things where if it starts going bad in these conditions, it’s just going to go bad. It’s not that big a deal. I didn’t adjust quickly to how far the ball was going.”
Still, when it comes to missing the cut in style, Mickelson was left in the shade by the man who started the Open in a cardigan and tie.
Justin Thomas was well placed after an opening round three under par 67. That was wiped out by three dropped shots in the opening hole, which just proved an hors d’oeuvre for the main course that was delivered on the sixth hole. The treachery of the 499-yard par four is already well established but Thomas’s travails deserve their own chapter in its catalogue of horrors.
Finding himself in some heavy