Phil Mickelson
The groans in the grandstands were loud and so was Phil Mickelson’s sigh.
Here the 54-year-old was, in what can only be described as a questionable pair of golf joggers, fighting against both the cut and the dying light of his career in the oldest tournament in the world.
Just after hitting a glorious approach shot to his final hole at Royal Troon, Mickelson left his birdie putt in the jaws. With the projected cut line then at four-over, and Mickelson at five-over, his tee time on the Saturday at The Open was no longer guaranteed.
Mickelson wandered off to the the scorers hut to sign for his 74 looking devastated. He rejected his only media request and headed for the exit, hoping that his tentative stroke on the 18th wouldn’t prove costly.
It is, of course, eight years since Mickelson played some of the best golf of his career around the Ayrshire links, losing out in an incredible two-horse race to Henrik Stenson.
That feels like a lifetime ago now and Mickelson knew he’d been written off this week. Yet, despite doing his damnedest, he couldn’t conjure up anything like that magic of 2016.
Mickelson’s mood changed dramatically after that miss because, for much of Friday morning, he appeared to be having much fun. He chatted away with his playing partners Dustin Johnson and Joost Luiten, acknowledging swathes of fans and fist-pumping after his birdies.
It must be stressed, however, Mickelson’s strange look that was capturing plenty of attention among the large galleries was not entirely his own choice.
The six-time major champion agreed to wear the ankle-cuffed pants after – unironically – losing a bet to popular YouTube golfer Grant Horvat in a match that has been viewed almost two million times.
But this was also a telling sign of the new world Mickelson is consciously entering.
Ageing golfers will always battle against what they once were, but Mickelson is now embracing a second realm: the world of content creation. When he’s not playing in LIV Golf events, he is following the lead of Bryson DeChambeau and slapping his face right in front of a new era of golf fans. He has his own YouTube channel and has opened his eyes to a world of new possibilities.
Many of Mickelson’s supporters at Troon were too young to remember his major triumphs – it was no coincidence that he made every effort to acknowledge his new target audience in the heat of battle.
Because let’s not forget that this was the man who had gone into hiding two years ago, his reputation in tatters after incendiary comments about the Saudi regime that bankrolls the LIV breakaway that he has aligned with.
Prior to The 150th Open, Mickelson was not welcome at a dinner for past champions inside the iconic R&A clubhouse at St Andrews. During his second round that year, only a couple of hundred fans stayed in the grandstands to cheer him down the last. He was well and truly the pariah at the Home of Golf.
By contrast, as he walked up the 18th at Troon, the reception was warm. Mickelson can be thankful that time is the best healer and fans will always eagerly follow him for his artistry inside the ropes.
At the Open, Mickelson will be remembered as the ‘Champion Golfer’ of 2013 and the loser of that epic duel three years later.
As for the rest of his colourful life, well, that’s for you to decide.
