Phil Mickelson disappointed with his opening at the Greenbrier Classic
The four-time major champion Phil Mickelson did not have the kind of start he wanted in the opening round of the Greenbrier Classic, on Thursday July 5, 2012.
Mickelson went three-over through the opening five holes after carding a bogey and a double bogey. Thereafter, he managed to make a slight comeback and recorded two birdies to go one-over through the front nine.
That was a time when it seemed as if things were starting to become normal for him. Yet, he failed to hold on to his nerves and suffered another bogey of the round on the 12th hole.
A birdie on the 16th hole allowed him to settle for a score of one-over par 71 at the end of the day. He is currently holding the shared 88th place, along with 22 other players, including the 14-time major champion Tiger Woods.
Moreover, there is an eight-stroke difference between him and the current leader, Vijay Singh, who fired an amazing seven-under par 63.
According to him, he was not accurate with his putter throughout the round and made several miscalculations that cost him a few strokes in the end.
Moreover, he failed to create many birdie chances that could have offset his early mishaps during the round.
“I'm not really sure where to go with that. I don't feel bad about my game,” he said. “I certainly didn't score what I wanted. I had a couple of mishaps on the green, three-putted from five and eight feet, and I've got to get that worked out. That cost me
a few strokes. And then coming down the stretch on 17 and 18 I had good chances to get a couple back and didn't”.
He now looks forward to making a strong comeback by recording some birdies in the second round at The Old White TPC, in White Sulphur Springs.
“I'm looking forward to tomorrow's round. I don't feel like it's far off,” he said. “I'll look forward to getting back out on the golf course and see if I can make some birdies”.
In the meantime, the defending champion Scott Stallings, despite the injury issues, recorded a respectable three-under par 67 to share the 16th place on the leaderboard.
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