The Phil report
You’ve got to hand it to Phil Mickelson. Instead of wallowing in self-pity after his U.S. Open debacle, Lefty was already practicing for the British Open after his meltdown. As the AP reports:
The leather-bound registry is called the “Strangers Book,” an inch thick with weathered pages dating to 1980. The latest edition is in the clubhouse at Royal Liverpool for guests to sign when they play the storied links course.Imagine what Ernie Els must have thought when he showed up to play 10 days after the U.S. Open.On the line above the first empty space, dated June 26, was the signature of Phil Mickelson from San Diego.”They asked me to come sign the club book, and I saw Phil’s name there,” Els said Tuesday. “And I was like, ‘What’s he … is he playing today?’ And they said, ‘No, he was here two days ago.’ And that kind of surprised me a little bit. He’s played the course many times. That’s the way he wants to prepare. He wants to see the course a million times.
Phil Mickelson and short game guru Dave Pelz have spent many hours discussing Royal Liverpool.”That’s his way right now.”Mickelson was so eager to leave behind his debacle at Winged Foot – a double bogey on the 72nd hole that cost him the U.S. Open and a third straight major championship- that he showed up at Hoylake that next week to start preparing for the British Open.He spent two days at Royal Liverpool, then returned last Thursday to play what amounts to a full tournament. He played four rounds, each of them taking a little more than eight hours as he studied every option off the tee, from the fairway, around the green. Mickelson played Sunday morning, then returned Sunday afternoon and played into the late twilight.
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