If you look at the scorecard when today’s action is all said and done, you’ll see that Phil Mickelson parred the second hole. That doesn’t really begin to tell the story.
VIDEO: Tiny Piece Of Pine Straw (?) Goes Rogue, Wrecks Mickelson’s Birdie Putt On Second Hole
Mickelson absolutely bombed his tee shot on the par 5, sending it 376 yards and leaving himself just 199 yards to the pin. Up and down for an eagle, certainly not out of the question. He’d put his approach in the sand, however, and his bunker shot was a competent-if-unspectacular save that gave him a short putt for birdie.
Then this happened:
That? That is as wretched as luck can get. We’re not even particularly positive what that thing is, much less how it got into Mickelson’s line right as he started his backstroke. The announcers ended up speculating that it was pine straw and that it might have been flicked by somebody in the gallery. That seems completely implausible for any number of reasons, but watch that video again. Plausible ain’t here.
So, conspiracy theories start here. It couldn’t have come from a tree--there aren’t any around the hole for about 50 yards, and the angle at which it hit is way too sharp for such a windless day. So what’s your idea for how this happened? Our sleeper possibility: Phil Mickelson, self-saboteur.
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