PGA Championship: Baltusrol sets up well for Johnson
If you thought two weeks was enough time for Phil Mickelson to get over his second-place finish in the British Open duel with Henrik Stenson, guess again.
Lefty said it’s going to take a long time to get over the British Open, probably longer than any of his other excruciating losses in a major.
The hurt and disappointment wasn’t because Mickelson missed out on either his sixth major or his first win since the 2013 British Open. This was the first time the 46-yearold Mickelson played his best, and it wasn’t good enough.
The 40-year-old Stenson won his first major with a record-shattering 20-under total. Mickelson’s 267 final total would have won every previous British Open except in 1993.
“I think it’s one of those things where I’ll look back over time and my disappointment will probably increase, because I think it’s the first time in my career that I have played to that level of golf and not had it be enough to win a tournament,” Mickelson said at a practice to prepare for the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey. “That’s a disappointing thing because I would have loved to have added another claret jug.”
Mickelson believes he will win again. He feels his game is improving, his swing is back and he likes the course. He validated his first major — the 2004 Masters — by capturing the 2005 PGA here with a 72nd hole birdie.
His goal this week is to play as well as he did at Troon.
The head of the PGA n of America said Wednesday that while the organization is opposed to North Carolina’s House Bill 2, there remain no plans to move the 2017 PGA Championship from Charlotte, North Carolina.
But Pete Bevacqua, CEO of the PGA of America, also didn’t rule out the possibility of withholding future PGA events from North Carolina if the law isn’t repealed.
“We’re opposed to it,” Bevacqua said Wednesday at Baltusrol, site of this week’s PGA Championship. “We are going to stay opposed to it. We’re going to do everything we can within our power to make this as inclusive a championship as possible. We’ll cross those bridges and deal with those hurdles when they come. We hope it changes.”
Bevacqua’s comments were similar to a statement released by the PGA of America last week after the NBA announced it was moving the 2017 All-Star Weekend out of Charlotte.
Bubba Watson was n home long enough between majors to open a candy store in Pensacola, Florida. It’s called “Bubba’s Sweet Spot,” offering up fudge, ice cream and a variety of candy. “Who doesn’t like candy and fudge and ice cream?” Watson said. “So I’m spending the most money in there.”