Mickelson makes his magic
For his final act on a day filled with short-game magic, Phil Mickelson hit a fullswing flop shot over a bunker that landed in just the right spot on the 18th green at Pebble Beach that it rolled out to four feet from the cup. Somehow, it didn’t go in. For a time Saturday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, it seemed everything did.
“It seemed like my short game was pretty good today,” Mickelson said after a five-under 67, that final birdie leaving him one shot behind Nick Taylor of Canada as Lefty goes for a record sixth title at Pebble.
Taylor had a cold start and a relatively quiet day at Spyglass Hill, away from all the hits and giggles around the celebrity rotation at Pebble Beach. He overcame two early bogeys with a 25-foot eagle putt on his 16th hole for a 69, and his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour. Taylor was at 17-under 198.
Mickelson and his sublime short game delivered more entertainment than all the athletes and celebrities combined during the Saturday show at Pebble.
He made the impossible look easy from a bunker behind the par-three seventh green at Pebble Beach. He holed out from a bunker for birdie on the 13th and chipped in from 90 feet for birdie on the next hole.
Topping the list was No. 7, the 110-yard hole down the hill toward the Pacific, the most picturesque hole at Pebble. It looked like a terror for Mickelson when his sand wedge went long into the back bunker.
“I was just trying to not make five,” Mickelson said. “I was trying to get on the green and just make a four, give myself a putt at a par. But it came out great.”
It splashed out of the sand so perfectly that it took a few hops in the rough before reaching the green, losing enough pace to trickle two feet away for a tap-in par. Even for Mickelson, it rates among his best.
“Yeah, it’s No. 2 in my alltime greatest bunker shots,” Mickelson said. “I made one in the final round at Memorial, Muirfield Village, the old 16th hole from under the lip, plugged, and I holed that one. This one didn’t go in, but it was the second best I’ve ever hit.”
Dustin Johnson, a twotime winner at Pebble, could manage only a 72, leaving him eight shots back. Patrick Cantlay, at No. 8 in the world, also shot 72 and was nine shots back.
Ayean Cho shot a twounder 70 for a one-shot lead over Madelene Sagstrom after three rounds of the LPGA’s Vic Open. champion. Wright-Phillips, 34, scored 108 goals in 195 games with the New York Red Bulls.
— Kevin Baxter
Jon Jones defended his light-heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Victorville’s Dominick Reyes at UFC 247. Flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko scored a third-round technical knockout of Katlyn Chookagian . ... Gary Russell Jr. retained his World Boxing Council featherweight title with a unanimous decision over Tugstsogt Nyambayar.
The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee gave San Diego State a No. 1 seed in its preliminary rankings, but stuck the Aztecs in the East Region. Based on games through Friday, Baylor was No. 1 overall, with Kansas and Gonzaga also top seeds. The Boston Red Sox avoided arbitration with Andrew Benintendi by signing the outfielder to a $10-million, two-year deal . ... Tampa Bay traded reliever Emilio Pagan to San Diego for outfielder Manuel Margot. Michael Self won the ARCA Series opener at Daytona, Fla., edging rising star Hailee Deegan of Temecula. Newbury Park’s Nico Young set a national high school indoor track and field record in New York, running the 3,000 meters in 7:56.97 at the Millrose Games. — Eric Sondheimer Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis broke the men’s world record, clearing 20 feet 2.9 inches in Poland.