Somebody will walk away the champion of the Memorial Tournament on Sunday evening, but Muirfield Village is going to have defeated most of the field by day’s end. Golfers are playing a firm and fast golf course getting only firmer and faster in the 90-plus degree heat in Dublin, Ohio. Oh, and if you haven’t heard, they’re going to tearing up the greens on Monday as part of a restoration project. So if things get a little closer to tilt as the afternoon progresses, you’ll understand that there is no membership to be rankled by a dead course come Monday.
We state all this as a preface that you’re likely going to be seeing some strange stuff as you watch play today. And if you don’t believe us, consider how Phil Mickelson played the 460-yard par-4 13th hole a short time ago. After hitting a 364-yard drive into the fairway (not bad for a 50-year-old!), Mickelson, who was five over on his round and eight over for the tournament, had 78 yards left to a tucked left hole location. Usually a master with his wedges, Lefty had another thought in mind on how to play the second shot, when he asked his caddie/brother, Tim Mickelson, for a club to handle the approach.
Mind handing me my putter?
We’ll let you watch what happened next.
Yes, it didn’t finish up the way Phil intended, although he did make a par, which is a good score on nearly every hole on Sunday.
Mickelson made one more bogey coming in, eventually finishing the day with a six-over 78. Here’s what he said when he was asked about his strategy on the 13th:
“So the reason I tried to putt was the fairway prior to the green was pitched more severely right to left, and if I used that slope it was going to angle and get the ball working over to the left pin and possibly get close, whereas if I hit a wedge shot and flew it on to the front edge or just short, it wasn’t using that extra pitch or contour to get the ball over to the left. I would have had to settle for a good shot being 12 or 15 right of the hole. I didn’t hit it hard enough, but if I had hit that hard enough or the right speed, I think that ball could have gotten close to the hole to a tap-in, whereas a wedge I didn’t see that being possible.”
We’ll give Phil an A for effort and for creativity and a C- to execution on the putt.