Bad start doesn’t sink Phil
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Phil Mickelson took a rocky road toward making the cut at the PGA Championship.
On his first shot of the day Friday, the lefty shanked his tee shot out of bounds onto Shunpike Road outside Baltusrol Golf Club and followed by hitting a shot onto a cart path and another into someone’s backyard.
Mickelson took a disastrous triple-bogey to fall to 4-over-par at that point. Despite the sloppy start, a birdie on the final hole gave him an even round and left him 1-over overall, one shot ahead of the cut line. The 46-year-old had issues Thursday in the first round hooking shots to the right. He began his second round by overcompensating to the extreme.
“I think in the history of the PGA Championship, that’s the worst start of any player’s round,” Mickelson said. “I don’t even know what to say. It was just a pure mental block.”
DUSTIN’S DONE
Dustin Johnson’s banner year took a massive hit on Friday as he didn’t come close to making the 2-over cut line, finishing at 9-over after shooting 2-over 72 in the second round. Johnson won the U.S. Open this year, his first major title, while finishing tied for fourth in the Masters and tied for ninth at The Open Championship. He snapped a streak of 25 consecutive cuts made, which was the longest active streak on the PGA Tour.
Bubba Watson, who shot 1-under 69 and is even through two rounds, now has the longest active streak with 21 straight cuts made.
Rory McIlroy crushingly missed the cut by one stroke at 3-over after bogeying the par-5 18th.