Mickelson’s Magic — Can lefty win major at 50?

PGA Championship 2021 R2
May 20-23
Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, SC
Round 1, Round 3, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

 

KIAWAH ISLAND, SC. After nine holes of his second round, it appeared Phil Mickelson was heading backwards and that the 50-year-old’s moments from a fine first round of 70 would be his main contribution. Guess again.

Mickelson brilliantly rallied on the front nine — his back nine — for a scorching 31 total which included five birdies against no scorecard blemishes.

The gallery that followed Lefty was smitten with the svelte physique Phil is now sporting and the golf he showcased had galleries whooping it up in a big-time manner. Mickelson’s 70-69 has him sharing the top position halfway through the 103rd PGA Championship. 

 

Just a few weeks ago at the Wells Fargo event Mickelson opened up with a 64 before fading during the final three rounds.

Should Phil somehow pull out a victory it would mean his 2nd PGA Championship — but more importantly, accomplish something never done in the history of golf in surpassing Julius Boros who is golf’s oldest major winner at 48 when winning the 1968 PGA Championship. Mickelson’s last major championship win came in 2013 at The Open Championship at Muirfield and his last PGA TOUR victory was at the 2019 AT&T Pro-Am event which he claimed for the 5th time.

The pathway for Mickelson will not be easy. A stellar leaderboard includes a number of world class players. Sharing the 36-hole lead with Mickelson is Louis Oosthuizen. The South African played a solid round featuring five birdies and a lone bogey at the 18th. Four-time major winner Brooks Koepka took an early stumble in the 2nd round with two bogeys in the first six holes before making eagles at the par-5 7th and 11th holes respectively. An additional birdie at the 12th had Koepka atop the leaderboard but two late round bogeys at the 15th and 17th holes have him just one shot back.  

 

Koepka’s fallback was matched by Brendan Grace. The South African had moved up the leaderboard with quality play with four birdies to snare the outright lead at -6 before taking a major tumble at the dangerous par-3 17th scoring double-bogey and then ending his round with a concluding bogey. Nonetheless, Grace is just two shots behind the leaders.

Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama also made a strong move during the 2nd round posting a score of 68 and could have been better if not for a final hole bogey at the challenging 18th hole. The Japanese star player will begin the 3rd round just two shots off the joint lead.

 

First round leader Casey Conners stumbled in his opening nine holes but recovered with two late birdies for a round of 75. He will start the 3rd round three shots back.

All in all, the final 36 holes for possession of the Wannamaker Trophy is shaping up to be a major tussle. Who could have imagined a 50-year-old sitting atop the leaderboard? 

What will Phil do next. Stay tuned.

Notes —

*The PGA of America originally was going to keep on-site gallery size to a max of 10,000. That number has since been expanded with weekend totals likely to rise to 15,000 each day.

*The cut after the first two rounds fell at +5 – 147. Among the notable going home early include world number one ranked Dustin Johnson. DJ was out of sorts for the event scoring a 150 total. This is Johnson’s first missed cut at a major championship since the 2018 Open Championship. The concerns about where Johnson is at from a golfing perspective are only intensifying.

 

*Ian Poulter displayed vintage form in the 2nd round — scoring four birdies and an eagle at the par-5 7th — which elevated him to -4 for the championship and just one shot behind then leader Brendan Grace. Once Poulter reached the par-4 13th he pulled his tee shot into the deep rough, his recovery only fared even worse and he was fortunate to escape with a bogey. However, the positive early momentum evaporated as he concluded the final five holes with three other bogeys. The Englishman now stands at even par and can only shake his head and wonder what happened.

*Once again — the hardest holes came late in the round with the likes of the 15th, 17th and 18th holes. Playing back into the wind for the second consecutive day the impact of the holes was demonstrated on the scorecards of a number of players. Most notably, Brendan Grace who reached the 17th tee at -6 for the championship courtesy of four birdies against no hiccups on the scorecard. That changed rapidly with a double-bogey on the 17th and a concluding bogey on the 18th. The South African is still a contender at -3 but the impact of the finish will clearly be on his mind when Saturday’s 3rd round gets underway.

*Weather conditions for the final 36-holes expect sunny skies but wind directions are expected to shift following 3rd round play. With wind flipping around from the opposite direction, The Ocean Course will feature an entirely different situation with Sunday’s final round.

 

*Three of the toughest holes, thus far, in the championship have come in the final four holes. The par-3 17th is the most challenging with a stroke average of 3.589. The 2nd most demanding is the 18th — coming in at 4.503. Both holes have yielded the fewest birdies in the event with 12 each. The water-protected 17th has also inflicted the most “other” scores for the event with a mindboggling 10 total.

*Rory McIlroy, the pre-tournament betting favorite, recovered from his opening round 75 and scored 72 to finish at 147 and T38. 

*Rickie Fowler, who received an exemption into the event from the PGA of America, did not fare as well as he did in the opening round — scoring 76 after a first round 71.

 

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	Total
T1	Phil Mickelson	-5	70	69	139
T1	Louis Oosthuizen	-5	71	68	139
3	Brooks Koepka	-4	69	71	140
T4	Branden Grace	-3	70	71	141
T4	Christiaan Bezuidenhout	-3	71	70	141
T4	Hideki Matsuyama	-3	73	68	141
T7	Corey Conners	-2	67	75	142
T7	Gary Woodland	-2	70	72	142
T7	Kevin Streelman	-2	70	72	142
T7	Sungjae Im	-2	70	72	142
T7	Paul Casey	-2	71	71	142
T12	Richy Werenski	-1	71	72	143
T12	Joaquin Niemann	-1	71	72	143
T12	Harry Higgs	-1	72	71	143
T12	Martin Laird	-1	70	73	143
T12	Jason Kokrak	-1	71	72	143
T12	Bryson DeChambeau	-1	72	71	143
T12	Charley Hoffman	-1	73	70	143
T19	Matt Fitzpatrick	E	73	71	144
T19	Padraig Harrington	E	71	73	144
T19	Ian Poulter	E	74	70	144
T19	Shane Lowry	E	73	71	144
T19	Keegan Bradley	E	69	75	144
T19	Viktor Hovland	E	69	75	144
T25	Daniel van Tonder	1	75	70	145
T25	Cameron Smith	1	72	73	145
T25	Will Zalatoris	1	71	74	145
T25	Bubba Watson	1	72	73	145
T25	Lee Westwood	1	73	72	145
T25	Tom Lewis	1	71	74	145
T25	Collin Morikawa	1	70	75	145
T32	Abraham Ancer	2	74	72	146
T32	Tony Finau	2	74	72	146
T32	Patrick Cantlay	2	73	73	146
T32	Tyrrell Hatton	2	71	75	146
T32	Scottie Scheffler	2	72	74	146
T32	Matt Wallace	2	73	73	146
T32	Brad Marek	2	73	73	146
T39	Rasmus Hojgaard	3	71	76	147
T39	Jon Rahm	3	72	75	147
T39	Carlos Ortiz	3	73	74	147
T39	Justin Rose	3	72	75	147
T39	Steve Stricker	3	76	71	147
T39	Cam Davis	3	69	78	147
T39	Joel Dahmen	3	74	73	147
T39	Rickie Fowler	3	71	76	147
T39	Jimmy Walker	3	73	74	147
T39	Stewart Cink	3	71	76	147
T39	Rory McIlroy	3	75	72	147
T50	Adam Hadwin	4	77	71	148
T50	Russell Henley	4	78	70	148
T50	Daniel Berger	4	79	69	148
T50	Jordan Spieth	4	73	75	148
T50	Lucas Herbert	4	76	72	148
T50	Dean Burmester	4	74	74	148
T50	Matt Jones	4	73	75	148
T50	Byeong Hun An	4	73	75	148
T50	Robert MacIntyre	4	75	73	148
T50	Danny Willett	4	77	71	148
T50	Jason Scrivener	4	73	75	148
T50	Brian Gay	4	77	71	148
T50	Aaron Wise	4	69	79	148
T63	Robert Streb	5	77	72	149
T63	Wyndham Clark	5	75	74	149
T63	Sam Horsfield	5	69	80	149
T63	Jason Day	5	74	75	149
T63	Patrick Reed	5	74	75	149
T63	Billy Horschel	5	77	72	149
T63	Webb Simpson	5	75	74	149
T63	Ben Cook	5	72	77	149
T63	Talor Gooch	5	71	78	149
T63	Brendan Steele	5	75	74	149
T63	Harold Varner III	5	73	76	149
T63	Garrick Higgo	5	73	76	149
T63	Tom Hoge	5	74	75	149
T63	Henrik Stenson	5	73	76	149
T63	Harris English	5	75	74	149
T63	Alex Noren	5	77	72	149
T63	Emiliano Grillo	5	77	72	149
T63	Chan Kim	5	75	74	149
T63	Denny McCarthy	5	73	76	149
CUT	Andy Sullivan	6	73	77	150
CUT	Brian Harman	6	75	75	150
CUT	Antoine Rozner	6	79	71	150
CUT	Chez Reavie	6	77	73	150
CUT	Dustin Johnson	6	76	74	150
CUT	Sergio Garcia	6	77	73	150
CUT	Victor Perez	6	78	72	150
CUT	Mackenzie Hughes	6	75	75	150
CUT	Marc Leishman	6	74	76	150
CUT	Adam Scott	6	78	72	150
CUT	Xander Schauffele	6	73	77	150
CUT	Justin Thomas	6	75	75	150
CUT	Peter Malnati	6	78	72	150
CUT	Si Woo Kim	7	75	76	151
CUT	Sebastian Munoz	7	77	74	151
CUT	Rich Beem	7	74	77	151
CUT	Tommy Fleetwood	7	76	75	151
CUT	Maverick McNealy	7	78	73	151
CUT	Brendon Todd	7	74	77	151
CUT	Thomas Detry	7	76	75	151
CUT	Danny Balin	8	79	73	152
CUT	Chris Kirk	8	76	76	152
CUT	Cameron Tringale	8	70	82	152
CUT	Dylan Frittelli	8	73	79	152
CUT	Jason Dufner	8	71	81	152
CUT	Zach Johnson	8	74	78	152
CUT	Ryan Palmer	8	74	78	152
CUT	Martin Kaymer	8	75	77	152
CUT	Lanto Griffin	8	74	78	152
CUT	Jim Herman	9	78	75	153
CUT	J.T. Poston	9	75	78	153
CUT	Greg Koch	9	76	77	153
CUT	Bernd Wiesberger	9	78	75	153
CUT	Hudson Swafford	9	77	76	153
CUT	Erik van Rooyen	9	72	81	153
CUT	Kurt Kitayama	10	77	77	154
CUT	Sami Valimaki	10	78	76	154
CUT	Max Homa	10	78	76	154
CUT	Matt Kuchar	10	77	77	154
CUT	Adam Long	10	72	82	154
CUT	George Coetzee	10	75	79	154
CUT	John Catlin	10	75	79	154
CUT	Kevin Kisner	10	77	77	154
CUT	Brett Walker	10	77	77	154
CUT	Kalle Samooja	10	74	80	154
CUT	Pete Ballo	11	80	75	155
CUT	K.H. Lee	11	78	77	155
CUT	Charl Schwartzel	11	76	79	155
CUT	Tim Pearce	12	79	77	156
CUT	Aaron Rai	12	81	75	156
CUT	Ben Polland	12	76	80	156
CUT	Mark Geddes	12	75	81	156
CUT	Jazz Janewattananond	13	77	80	157
CUT	Rob Labritz	13	76	81	157
CUT	Brandon Hagy	13	77	80	157
CUT	Kevin Na	13	79	78	157
CUT	Cameron Champ	15	82	77	159
CUT	Stuart Smith	15	82	77	159
CUT	Rikuya Hoshino	15	76	83	159
CUT	Thomas Pieters	16	76	84	160
CUT	Alex Beach	17	75	86	161
CUT	Shaun Micheel	17	81	80	161
CUT	Brandon Stone	17	78	83	161
CUT	Takumi Kanaya	17	75	86	161
CUT	Patrick Rada	18	76	86	162
CUT	Sonny Skinner	19	85	78	163
CUT	Larkin Gross	20	80	84	164
CUT	Frank Bensel, Jr.	21	86	79	165
CUT	Joe Summerhays	21	81	84	165
CUT	Omar Uresti	21	82	83	165
CUT	Derek Holmes	21	79	86	165
CUT	Tyler Collet	26	88	82	170
CUT	John Daly	27	85	86	171
WD	Sam Burns	E	41	—	41
DQ	Y.E. Yang	E	75	83	158