Phil Mickelson admits he’s been lethargic, lacking focus recently

This is going to come as a surprise to most of you, but Phil Mickelson has been struggling with his golf game of late. I know this is probably the first time most of you have heard about Phil’s swing issues*, but he’s been going through one of the worst stretches of his career over the last two months.

Dating back to his W/D at the Memorial, Mickelson has missed out on the weekend in four of his last six starts, and went eight straight rounds without breaking par at one point, before stringing a couple solid rounds together at the Scottish Open.

But the positive vibes were short-lives, as Mickelson the missed cut at the British Open with someone less-than-stellar play that led you to believe something was still up with his game.

Speaking on Thursday to CBS This Morning’s Charlie Rose, Mickelson, who will likely play the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational the week prior to the PGA Championship, admitted that he’s lacked focus over the last couple of months.

“The last two months I haven’t played my best,” Mickelson said. “I’ve spent a lot, these last five days, being introspective and see what’s going on. I think I’ve identified a couple of things. One of the biggest areas is mentally I haven’t been focusing as fine as I need to. I’ve been letting where I don’t want the ball to go creep in my head as opposed to where I want it to go.”

The four-time major winner also touched on something else that’s been plaguing his game — and it has nothing to do with his swing.

“I’ve been a little bit lethargic the last two months,” Mickelson said. “We’ve got some big tournaments coming up. In fact, the next nine weeks I’m playing seven of them, and this is an important stretch to finish the year off right. So I’ve been working hard to get this turned around.”

Lethargic, huh? Mickelson has played a lot of golf recently, but you rarely hear him talk about being worn out. Considering he does have a full schedule for the rest of the season, it’ll be interesting to see how he responds to the short break before teeing it up in Akron (he’s played the event every year since 2003).

Mickelson also touched on a number of different topics during the interview, including swing coach Butch Harmon, the difference between missing the cut and winning, Bubba Watson’s shot during the playoff at Masters, Tiger Woods’ swing, and the golf youth movement. Give it a watch if you want to see what he’s been up to recently.

h/t Eye on Golf

* – We’re laying the sarcasm on pretty thick.

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