How Phil Mickelson rebounded from Merion heartbreak to win at Muirfield

How Phil Mickelson rebounded from Merion heartbreak to win at Muirfield

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Jay Hart July 21, 2013 4:10 PMYahoo Sports



GULLANE, Scotland – As Phil Mickelson left the house for work Sunday morning, he told his family, "I'm gonna go get me a Claret Jug."

It's hardly your typical goodbye and was a bit of a stretch for a guy sitting five shots behind the leader heading into the final round of the British Open; an even bigger stretch for someone who'd barely sniffed a win at The Open in 19 previous tries.

But Phil being an optimist – his glass is always more than half full, his wife Amy says – and chock full of more confidence than Ray Allen shooting free throws, he set out for Muirfield believing it could happen.

But how?

[Related: Phil Mickelson thrills his way to British Open victory]

How could Phil Mickelson be so sure of himself after what happened just a few weeks ago at Merion. He'd lost tournaments before, finished second in five previous U.S. Opens, but that one – holding the lead heading into the final round, blowing a pair of his signature wedges on the back nine, making one silly mental error – stung the worst, Amy says.

For two days he laid in bed, locked in a daze.


Phil Mickelson gestures as he holds the Claret Jug. (AP)



"The most disappointed of any tournament," Amy said. "He was totally almost a shell, and that's not like him."

Montana got him out of bed.

The Mickelsons didn't exactly pack up the RV and hit the road, but they did have a trip with four other families and their kids planned before the U.S. Open happened, so Phil had to pick himself up out of bed and head to Big Sky country. The family packed the week with rafting, fly fishing, archery, shooting, a visit to Yellowstone – pretty much everything but golf and not a single spare minute.

"A great week with great friends who don't care if he's the U.S. Open champion or not," is how Amy explained it.

[Related: PGA Tour players send Phil Mickelson love, support]

The trip to Montana got him out of his funk, the win last week at the Scottish Open got him back on his game, and by the time he was walking up the par-5 17th at Muirfield on Sunday he could hardly contain himself. A quick glance at one of the new electronic scoreboards – this is the first British Open with electronic scoreboards on the course – showed him holding a one-shot lead. Knowing he had two putts to make birdie,Mickelson for the first time realized the Open was his to lose.

"As I was walking up to the green, that was when I realized that this is very much my championship in my control, and I was getting emotional," he explained. "I had to kind of take a second to slow down my walk and try to regain composure."

He'd wind up making the birdie on 17 and another on 18 – red figures he could have used at Merion and didn't end up needing at Muirfield – and won by three shots. But just as is usually the case with Mickelson, he provided the drama anyway – thrusting his arms in the air after dropping that final birdie putt knowing he'd won even though six players were still on the course.

[Also: Tiger Woods, Steve Williams bury hatchet at Muirfield]

Six weeks ago in suburban Philadelphia, Mickelson was virtually inconsolable. While Justin Rose celebrated his comeback, Phil was left to explain the pain.

"This one's probably the toughest for me, because at 43 and coming so close five times, it would have changed the way I look at this tournament altogether and the way I would have looked at my record," he said. "Except I just keep feeling heartbreak."

That heartbreak was nowhere to be found Sunday night. Standing on the 18th green next to her dad, one of Mickelson's daughters leaned in and said to him, "I can't believe it." Mickelson, sporting a smile Mike Tyson couldn't knock off his face, reached around to give her a hug, but with only one arm. The other was busy holding the Claret Jug.

Scott lets 'great chance' to win slip away

Scott lets 'great chance' to win slip away

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PGA.COM July 21, 2013 4:43 PM

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Adam Scott was pumped when he took the lead on Sunday, but he couldn't hold it down the back nine.(Getty …


By Tim Dahlberg, Associated Press

GULLANE, Scotland -- Adam Scott's stumble in the final round of the Open Championship wasn't nearly as spectacular as it was a year ago.

The end result was still the same.

For the second year in a row Scott held the lead on the back nine; for the second year in a row he left without his name on the claret jug. Even the green jacket he won in between at the Masters couldn't ease the sting of this one.

"I think the disappointing thing is this one I felt I wasted a little bit," Scott said Sunday. "I would have liked to be in at the end and no one was, actually. It's a shame."

No one was because Phil Mickelson closed so strongly he likely would have won the Open no matter what Scott or any of his fellow competitors did. But three straight bogeys on the back nine sealed the fate of the Masters champion, eliminating him from contention before he even had a shot at making a late run.

"I let a great chance slip, I felt, during the middle of the round and that's disappointing," Scott said. "Had I played a little more solid in the middle of that back nine I could have had a chance coming in."

Playing in the next-to-last group with Tiger Woods, Scott made a run at the lead when he sank a long putt on the eighth hole for birdie, then followed it with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 ninth. When he added yet another birdie on the short par-4 11th he was suddenly in the lead with seven holes to go.

Last year at the Open at Lytham, Scott had a four-shot lead with four holes to play and all that seemed left to do was prepare his victory speech.

It quickly unraveled, though, with Scott finishing with a string of bogeys. The image of his knees buckling when he missed a 7-foot putt to force a playoff with Ernie Els lingers still.

Compared to that, Sunday's back nine missteps paled by comparison. Once again, though, Scott began making bogeys and soon someone else was holding the Open trophy.


It began with a bad shot into the grassy dunes right of the 13th green that Scott almost got away with when he hit a great pitch to seven feet. But the putt lipped out, beginning a string of three straight bogeys that took him out of contention.

"I didn't get to the number that Phil finished on, but I was right there," Scott said. "Had I played a little more solid in the middle of that back nine, I could have had a chance coming in."

Scott's disappointment in a wasted opportunity was tempered by the fact Mickelson shot a 5-under 66 to finish the tournament at 3 under par. But Scott was 2 under himself after the 11th hole, and it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that he might have made a few more birdies coming in.

He wasn't certain where he stood as he made his way into the back nine, though he had an idea Mickelson was making a move.

"The boards weren't working really very good," Scott said. "I had a look a couple of times, but they didn't really seem to make so much sense. I wasn't sure if they had it right. Phil kept moving up."

By the time Scott rolled in a final 20-footer on the last hole for birdie, Mickelson was already doing interviews and signing autographs off the final green. Scott finished four shots back, tied for third with third-round leader Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.

Scott and Woods had a brief chat as they left the green, both feeling they had let one get away.

"It was just generic stuff," he said. "I think we both just kind of were disappointed with our performance today, to be honest."

That wasn't the case in April when the Australian with the long putter strung together a pair of 69s on the weekend to get into a playoff with Angel Cabrera to win the Masters. It was a breakthrough win for the 32-year-old, and especially satisfying since it came in the wake of his collapse at the Open last year.

After he lost the Open last year, Scott said it he would learn from the experience. Despite missing again, he said he did.

"I'm happy with my week, other than I didn't win," he said. "But I lived up to my expectations of putting myself in contention with a chance. And it will just have to go down in the experience book and something to build on again."

Recari holds off Creamer, wins Marathon Classic

Recari holds off Creamer, wins Marathon Classic

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The Sports Xchange July 21, 2013 5:10 PMThe SportsXchange



SYLVANIA, Ohio -- Beatriz Recari of Spain captured the LPGA Marathon Classic on Sunday after firing a bogey-free 5-under-par 66 to finish at 17-under 267 at Highland Meadows Golf Club.

Recari held off Paula Creamer -- who finished one shot behind at 16 under -- to capture her second victory of the year and third for her career. She won the Kia Classic in March.

Recari and Creamer separated themselves from the pack and went head-to-head all afternoon. Creamer grabbed a one-shot lead with a birdie at the third hole, but Recari made a birdie of her own at the next to tie it. They were tied for the lead at 15 under after nine holes.

Neither dropped a shot on the back nine, but Recari's birdie at the par-3 14th hole gave her a one-shot lead.

Creamer had a birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th hole to tie Recari and potentially force a playoff, but the ball slipped past the cup.

Recari chipped to within three feet with her fourth shot at the last hole and made her par putt to secure the victory.

Eighteen-year-old Lexi Thompson and England's Jodi Ewart Shadoff tied for third place at 13 under. Angela Stanford and Jacqui Concolino finished in a tie for fifth at 10 under.

NOTES: Thompson carded a hole-in-one on the 14th hole after hitting a perfect 6-iron from 181 yards. The ace was already the fourth of her career. ... Meena Lee started the round tied for 48th and finished in a tie for seventh after a shooting a 9-under 62. ... The next event and last before the Solheim Cup is the Women's British Open, which begins Aug. 1.