LOS ANGELES – Phil Mickelson’s 53rd Birthday Friday ended in silence. The silence was a sign of his unwillingness to speak to the media.
Mickelson, who shot a 74 in the U.S. Open final round, shook his partners’ hands and then slapped his hands on as many fans he could as he walked towards scoring.
Mickelson, knowing that his three overs for the first two round meant he was unlikely to stay for the weekend, blew past reporters without stopping. The majority of the questions would have been regarding the LIV Golf deal with the PGA Tour.
Mickelson only made one comment in Sports Illustrated this week, on Wednesday.
He said, “I will be glad to speak later.” I don’t want my energy wasted on this at the start of the week.
The extra energy Friday was not helpful.
Mickelson followed up his runner-up at the Masters in April by a 58th place at the PGA Championship, and has now missed the cut at the U.S. Open. This is Mickelson’s fifth missed cut out of nine majors he has played in.
The LIV golfers did much better than Mickelson, with 10 out of 15 golfers making it to the 2-over-cut.
LIV is leading the pack with two players in the top 10, Dustin Johnson (6-under) and Cameron Smith (four-under). Johnson is tied with Rickie Folwer for sixth place, four shots back. Smith is in 10th place.
Brooks Koepka – the pre-tournament favourite among LIV golfers – who won the PGA Championship in a month – got back to par on Friday with a 69. Joaquin Niemann is also at 140.
Bryson deChambeau (1 over), Patrick Reed (1 under) and Sergia Garcia (1 over) are also on the weekend.
LIV had three golfers that made the cut for the number: Abraham Ancer (left), Sebastian Munoz (right) and David Puig.
The next round of the LIV event will take place in Valderrama, Spain in two weeks. Mickelson is one of them.
