Phil Mickelson ended a so-so start to his 2014 PGA Tour season with a twinge in his back that could force him to withdraw from this week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Phil Mickelson tweaks his back at Torrey Pines, may withdraw from Farmers Insurance Open
Should a bad back force him out of the Farmers Insurance Open before playing Torrey Pines’ South Course, Phil Mickelson said ‘it’s not the end of the world.’
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODA
Tee Sheet: Friday's schedule at Torrey Pines
“My back locked up on me, it just kind of tightened up and I wasn’t really able to start a downswing. So I’ll get some treatment tonight and see if I can get it to loosen up and maybe get something tomorrow before I play and see if I can go,” Mickelson, who felt a twinge after hitting out of the “dangerous” rough in Abu Dhabi last week, told Golf Channel after making a birdie on his closing hole in Thursday’s first round. “It’s just tight and I just couldn’t swing from the top. It just kept locking up and giving me a shooting pain, I kind of flinch.”
Nothing left to prove
This is a tournament Tiger Woods owns, but from which he gains little at this point in his decorated career. The 43-year-old world No. 4 posted a 3-under 69 on the North Course to put him five shots back of early leader Stewart Cink. But it was his health that was of more concern to Phil fans than the missed fairways (he came up just shy of 43 percent of fairways in regulation) with his new driver.
As he waited to hit his tee shot on the par-4 eighth (his 17th hole of the day), Mickelson continually swung a club one-handed, bent over, and reached for the left side of his lower back. He then, with an “Ugh!” and a grab at his back, mishit his drive far left off the fairway.
(Video: Golf Channel)
No harm, no foul, however, as Lefty came away with a par to remain at that point in a million-player tie at 2-under for the round. His tee shot off the ninth was not quite up to the standards of the popular lefty, who, with a tight-hipped gait, ambled over to sit on a bench and watch Jason Day hit his drive.
Mickelson, who opened the week on his favorite North Course, which he is in the process of redesigning, was slated to play his second round on the more difficult South Course on Friday. After bad-mouthing the South during a pre-tourney press conference on Wednesday, Mickelson may decide to bag it if his aching back does not respond to the rest and treatment he prescribed for himself following his less-than-stellar round.
“If not,” he said about whether he would be able to make his Friday morning tee time, “it’s not the end of the world, either.”
Mickelson has won this PGA Tour contest three times but he did so before Rees Jones redesigned the South Course. With a 51st-place finish last year and a missed cut in 2012, it certainly sounded as if the five-time major champion were leaving himself an out of having to play the layout for which he admitted he held a bit of a grudge.
“My feelings of animosity toward it might be a factor as to why I haven’t played well per se on it,” Mickelson said. “I’ve learned to play it over the years, but it is not conducive to the way I like to play, which is aggressive.
Phil expects multiple U.S. Open titles
Mickelson, the 43-year old who opens his 2014 PGA Tour season in his own backyard, is already talking about completing the career Grand Slam … with multiple U.S. Open wins. “Every shot is repelled away from the tucked pins, every green breaks away from the bunkers, every time you’re in a bunker you’ve got a downhill shot,” he added. “It’s just monotonous to me and it doesn’t allow for great recovery and it does not allow for aggressive play.”
When Mickelson snapped, “No, it doesn’t” surprise him that the U.S. Open has not returned to Torrey Pines since Tiger Woods won his last major, in 2008, perhaps it was a foreshadow of his own possible no-show on Friday.
For sure, Mickelson will need to do better on the South than hit some 43 percent of fairways in regulation, as he did on the birdie-friendly North.
“I kind of milked my way around the golf course and I was able to do it on the North Course because the penalty wasn’t as severe as it is on the South,” he observed. “I’m able to kind of get it up by the green and get it up and down, salvage par, and made a couple of birdies.
“But it won’t hold up on the South Course,” Mickelson added, “so I’ve got to get it better.”
As to why his back acted up when it did, the San Diego native said it was Father Time catching up with him.
“I just think I’m getting old and if I overdo, it’s just prone to get a little tight,” he said, assuring his supporters it was nothing serious.
“It’s just a muscular thing,” he said. “My back feels fine; it’s just muscles on the side,” he said. “It’s not [a concern]. I think it will go away in a short period of time. I don’t think it’s anything serious.”
Perhaps just serious enough to keep him off that dratted South Course.
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