Phil Mickelson had a chance at history on Thursday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, but came up one shot short.
Mickelson lined up a birdie putt on the final hole of his round with a chance at registering a score of 59, something only a handful of golfers have ever done. The left-handed golfer hit a 25-foot putt that appeared to be going into the hole, but in a creul twist of fate, it ringed around the entire hole and rolled away.
Mickelson was walking towards the hole ready to celebrate and was pointing his putter towards the cup when it flipped out. His caddie Jim Mackay reacted by collapsing to his knees on the green.
"Six feet to go, it was in the center," Mickelson said to the Associated Press. "Three feet to go, it was in the center. A foot to go, it was in the center, and even as it's approaching the hole, I couldn't envision which side of the hole it could possibly miss on, and it ended up somehow just dying off at the end, catching the lip."
"He could not have hit a better putt," Mackay added.
Mickelson was playing with Jason Dufner and Rickie Fowler, who watched in disbelief as the historic shot petered out.
"Unlucky," Dufner said. "He was walking it in."
"I thought it was in," Fowler said. "I was pulling for him."
Mickelson finished with an 11-under-par 60 and finished one shot away from joining Al Geiberger, Chip Beck, David Duval, Paul Goydos and Stuart Appleby as the only golfers ever to shoot 59.
"It's unfortunate, but I mean, I'm ecstatic with the round, but man, you just don't get those opportunities very often, and to see that ball lip out instead of lip in, it's crushing," said Mickelson, who wrote down four 2s on his scorecard for the first time. " ... Sixty is awesome, but there's a big difference between a 60 and a 59. Not that big a difference between 60 and 61. But there's a big barrier, a Berlin Wall barrier, between 59 and 60."
While Mickaelson didn't make history in that regard, he joined Zach Johnson as the only two players in history with multiple rounds of 60 or better. Mickelson's also hit a 60 at Phoenix in 2005 when he won the title.
"I shot (59) in the PGA Grand Slam of golf, I shot 58 in a practice round," said Mickelson, who made 2 on all four of the par-3s. "But to do it in a tournament would have been historic for me, something I'd always remember, and I'll always remember that putt on the last hole, probably, too."
Mickelson started off the day fast and it was clear from the beginning that he would be doing something special. He birdied on his first four holes before shooting or par on his fifth and sixth holes. Mickelson then made four consecutive birdies and added three more over the rest of the round for a total of 11, including on the par-4 eighth.
"That putt is so fast down to that right pin because it's going toward the valley, it's downhill and down grain," Mickelson said. "I thought, 'I can't leave it short.' So, I just got it right on line and it was tracking and it pulled up short."
According to the Associated Press, "Five players have shot 59 in official PGA Tour events. Al Geiberger did it in the 1977 Memphis Classic, Chip Beck in the 1991 Las Vegas Invitational, David Duval in the 1999 Bob Hope Invitational, Paul Goydos in the 2010 John Deere Classic and Stuart Appleby in the 2010 Greenbrier Classic. Japan's Ryo Ishikawa had the lowest round on a major tour, shooting a 12-under 58 to win the 2010 Crowns on the Japan Tour."
Interestingly enough, Bo Van Pelt had a 59 in the pro-am Wednesday at TPC Scottsdale, serving almost as a precursor for what Mickelson had a chance to do.
"He hit a shot on 17, he was 9 under at the time, and he hit a drive that hit the pin and ended up a foot," Mickelson said. "It should have gone in. And I kind of got into him, I said, 'Look, I don't care when it is, get a 3, make a 3 on the last hole because you don't get a chance to shoot 59.' Here I am the next day making a 4."
Mickelson is first on the leader board with an 11-under 60 and is in excellent position to capture his third title at this event. He goes into Friday's action with a our-stroke lead over Ryan Palmer, Brandt Snedeker, Padraig Harrington, Ted Potter Jr. and Jeff Maggert.
Mickelson started off the season slowly, but has really turned things around in Phoenix. He made headline last week when speaking about his taxes and later apologized for it. Mickelson firs said at the PGA event in La Quinta that he may need to take "drastic measures", like leaving the state of California, because the financial burden might be too large. He said that it was possible he could play in fewer tournaments or retire due to the increases.
He later came out and said that it was dumb to bring up the tax issues, as well as the opinion that he could not be a part of the San Diego Padres' new ownership group due to the tax issues.
"You know, I've made some dumb, dumb mistakes and, obviously, talking about this stuff was one of them," Mickelson said.
On Wednesday, Mickelson compared his comments to one of his worst golf moments and said that he should not have made his views public.
"This reminds me a lot of Winged Foot in 2006, where I hit a drive way left off the tents. So this happened to be way right," Mickelson said, a playful reference to his position on the higher taxes. "I've made some dumb, dumb mistakes. And obviously, talking about this stuff was one of them."
Vijay Singh made some news at the tournament as well with his link to a Sports Illustrated report about athletes using banned substances. He was forced to pull out of the tournament due to a back injury.
