PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – For Phil Mickelson, the week at the PLAYERS Championship couldn’t have started much better.
On Tuesday he had the golf world talking, saying that he would play Tiger one-on-one in a high-stakes match when asked about their pairing this week. Then on Thursday, shortly before he and Tiger (and Rickie) teed off, it was announced that he had a new shirt deal with Mizzen+Main that would see him wear the long sleeve button down he made famous during Masters week. In typical Phil fashion, he also now has a stake in the company.
Unfortunately for Phil, when it comes to golf, you can’t just win the press conference and the pre-tournament press release. You also have to go play golf.
That’s where Phil’s week went south.
On Thursday, playing alongside Tiger and Rickie, Phil went out and shot an opening round 79 where he needed to drain a par putt on the final hole just to break 80. While the shirt became the pre-round talk in a good way, it quickly became the butt of the jokes on Golf Twitter. He also looked quite uncomfortable out there, not just in the shirt but in the way he played as well.
Friday didn’t get much better either for Phil the Thrill. At one point on Friday, he found himself at +9 and beating just one player in the field, Scott McCarron who plays full time on the PGA Tour Champions.
While he had a three birdie stretch on the back nine Friday to eventually move up the leaderboard a little, it was a disappointing week for the man we all lovingly refer to as FIGJAM.