Phil Mickelson has hailed the reception he has received from The Open Championship crowd this week, having returned to Royal Troon for the final major of the season.
Mickelson infamously more than played his part in one of the great Open battles, losing out to Henrik Stenson back in 2016 at Troon. Eight years on, the LIV Golf star is back in action around the Ayrshire track for the first time since his runner-up finish, and spoke highly of the Scottish crowd having made the cut on Friday.
“People have been great, yeah,” he commented. “Look, they’re always great out here. They’re always respectful of everybody in the game, and they’ve been respectful to every player, and they were great today, and they’ve been great all week and everywhere.”
Mickelson booked his spot for the weekend after playing his opening two rounds in five-over-par after rounds of 73 and 74 on Thursday and Friday. Whilst his scoring failed to make him a threat on the leaderboard, the six-time major champion was pleased with his golf game.
“I’ve played well this week, even though Ihave not scored well. I haven’t saved the shots around the greens that I usually do. I’ve hit a lot of good shots, though. I’ve hit a lot of really good-quality shots and I’ve played some really good golf,” Historically Mickelson’s short game has been the crown jewel in his game.
This week though he admitted his play around the greens is what has let him down. The HyFlyers captain added: “I haven’t scored the way I wanted to because my short game around the greens has not been as sharp as it needs to be to score on this golf course.”
