Mickelson meltdown as green speeds give him putting pain
PHIL MICKELSON’s 48th birthday took a stunning turn yesterday when he stopped a putt from rolling off the 13th green.
Clearly at the end of his tether after a shocking run of bogeys in his third round, the muchdecorated American embarrassed himself when another putt rolled past the hole. Instead of waiting to see where it finished, he stopped the ball with his putter and knocked it back from whence it came.
It meant an automatic two-shot penalty and he ended up with a 10 for the hole. ‘That’s absolutely amazing, that’s Phil basically giving up and saying, “No more”,’ David Fay, a former executive director of the United States Golf Association, said on American television.
Mickelson took an 11-over par 81 shots to complete the round, and stands on 17-over going into today’s final round. Mickelson has finished runner-up at the US Open on six occasions. This performance will be remembered for wholly unsavoury reasons.