Oh Phil Mickelson, you never fail to entertain us, even when what you’re doing is completely insane.
On Sunday at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship it was Mickelson who looked like he would cruise to a surprising victory on the European Tour, a place that has been very kind to Mickelson over the last year.
Mickelson was in the final group with Craig Lee, the leader after 54 holes, but as Lee was struggling on Sunday it was Phil who arrived at the par-4 13th hole very much in command of the tournament.
That was where things turned as Lefty’s golf ball ended up under a bush, which looked almost impossible to hit, but in typical Mickelson fashion he turned his club over and tried to punch it out right-handed.
As you can see in the below video, that effort didn’t exactly work out, with him hitting the golf ball twice on his attempt and eventually making a triple-bogey 7 to go from 3-under on his round back to even. Mickelson birdied the 14th and 16th to give himself a chance on the final hole, but he needed an eagle for a playoff and was only able to make a birdie on the 18th.
Phil lost by a shot to Pablo Larrazabal, meaning if he had just taken a drop like he did after double-hitting the shot, he would have very much had a chance to win this event.
The bright side in all of this is the quote that Mickelson gave us after the round, which might go down as one of his best ever in a career of great quotes.
“You know me, I’ve done some crazy s*** in my career. I go up and then I go down.”
Never change, Phil. Never change.
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Shane Bacon is the editor of Devil Ball Golf and Busted Racquet on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shanebaconblogs@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter at @ShaneBacon!
Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports
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