The finale of the LIV Golf season is upon the sporting world. The eight teams fought it out during the exciting quarterfinals that took place on Friday in a bid to keep their chances alive at the Team Championship title in Miami. And at the center of attention was none other than Phil Mickelson.
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However, the first day was a bumpy one for ‘Lefty’ as he saw himself barely surviving against Brooks Koepka and his team. But, as a true athlete does, he was quick to get up, dust himself off, and accept his “mistakes,” something he feels he should “clean up!”
Phil Mickelson shares his struggles in the match against Brooks Koepka
The first day of the Team Championships has proved to be nothing short of a banger as Smash GC and HyFlyers GC duked it out on the course to take home a cut of the $50 million prize pool. Although the Mickelson-led team was able to pull off a win against the formers, the captain saw himself losing out on the singles against Koepka 6&4. And the 53-year-old skipper had a lot to say about the same.
In a press conference, the 45X PGA Tour champ admitted his mistakes as he mentioned how his “speed was off a bit.” Although he managed to hit birdies on the 5th and 6th holes to make a small comeback from his 3-down score on the 4th hole, the 6X major winner couldn’t capitalize on the same.
Continuing on his response, the 2021 PGA Championship winner pointed out the bogey he made “from the middle of the fairway on 7” as nothing short of a mistake. However, the veteran went ahead to display his fighting spirit as he said, “I just can’t make those mistakes against a guy like Brooks or against a guy like DJ, so I’m going to have to clean that up.”
Although HyFlyers GC managed a win against Koepka’s team 1-2, it might have been Mickelson who got a wake-up call through his singles loss. However, one can’t blame the 53-year-old as he had raised his concerns over the match during an interview ahead of the tournament.
Mickelson on his matchup with Koepka
After being matched up with Smash GC, the 45X PGA Tour champ was quick to mention how Koepka has been one of the best players in the game this year. Moreover, referring to his achievements in 2023, including the major victory, ‘Lefty’ hilariously stated how there were a lot of people he would rather play against other than the 2023 PGA Championship winner.
Nevertheless, the respect that the former had for the 33-year-old was amazing as he admitted to enjoying the game whenever he played against Koepka. Well, his hunch came out right as he suffered a loss in the quarterfinal singles match against the 9X PGA Tour winner despite his team coming out on top.
