The American Ryder Cup team needs to make a run on Saturday and they’re resorting to a good luck trick for help. Phil Mickelson belly rubs are back.
A battered USA Ryder Cup team is rubbing Phil Mickelson’s belly for good luck
Whatever it takes to turn this blowout around in Paris.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images
Phil, who is sitting both sessions on Saturday after an ugly showing Friday afternoon, was out following the Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth pairing. That’s when some citizen journalist picked up the two stopping and going out of their way to walk back and give Phil’s belly a rub before proceeding to the next hole.
Phil was not in top form coming into the Cup, which he’s played every time since 1995. It’s an astonishing run of longevity but following Friday’s disaster, it made sense to sit him down for full day. It would seem he also agreed, not getting in captain Jim Furyk’s way and making it more difficult than it needed to be.
But that doesn’t mean Phil serves no purpose out there on Saturday. He’s been a playing assistant-captain of sorts the last few team competitions. So he’s jumping in and getting pretty hands-on while he sits.
As for the belly rub, this is not the first time we’ve seen the USA resort to such sorcery. In 2015 at the Presidents Cup in Korea, Phil’s belly also became the team’s false idol.
As far as I can recall, the belly rub has not been put into practice since then. It’s been three years but when you’re getting blitzed and need to turn things around, you start getting crazy and looking for answers anywhere.
