Running 2021 Golf Thread

John Feinstein chimes in on Phil Mickelson:

Phil Mickelson, a champion of comebacks and transformations, now has his greatest triumph

 

I’m am the last Phil fanboy so from that POV I’ve got to give him a huge ovation; dude three jacked 1 to lose the lead immediately and he wins by 2. Great performance.

 

Agreed. Watson also had something of a spiritual connection to the Open, whereas this was just the PGA. Hell, I think it's gonna be at least a decade before I get used to this tournament being in May.

 

It went beyond golf. My mom doesn’t care a lick about golf and was just crestfallen when it unraveled.

And yet it ended the way any great novelist or script writer would’ve written it. Age winning. The shaking hands of a former master failing him right at the end. It was both heartbreaking and true to life as much as a sports event could be.

He was right that nobody died that day, but it felt like watching mortality.

 

Well, in Hollywood or in a novel, he would have lost to some hotshot rising star on his way to becoming the game’s Next Big Thing, not 36-year-old Stewart Cink.​

 

I have to think people were tuning in in droves to watch him win to be sure - but also didn't want to miss it if he some how coughed it up.

 

BTW, now 48 year old Stewart Cink is a two time winner on the Tour this season. Turns 50 this year Padraig Harrington was T-4th at the PGA. Maybe it's just a year for older guys.
PS: It's not going to be pleasant to watch, but I think we all know Mickelson's chances of going 75-76 -- MC at the Open at Torrey Pines are far better than they are of contending.

 

If Phil bet on himself, he must have had some inside information.

 

Koepka bitching about his knee after getting jostled in the crowd at 18 was interesting. He played lousy on the 17 holes before that happened, so I can understand frustration boiling over. But was that really an issue to complain about? Would he have had the same reaction if he had shot 66 instead of 76?

Like me complaining about somebody coughing when I'm four-putting for an 8 to break 90. (And yeah, I do that. Complain. And four-putt.) It's weird. I have terrible rabbit ears on the golf course, but you could shoot a Howitzer off when I was bowling and it wouldn't change my focus one iota.

 

Exactly getting you knee bumped sucks but he blew it on the prior 17 holes. BTW, WTF on 2? Got the lead, hit it left all day!!

 

I mean, unleashing the crowd like that is a bit of a safety concern, especially with a population that has clearly been alcohol fueled. There’s a reason they don’t let fans rush the field anymore after they clinch a whatever like they did in the 70s.