Friday wasn’t as bad as Thursday at The Country Club for Phil Mickelson, but it also wasn’t good.
A three-over 73 included two birdies, one more than he posted a day earlier enroute to a 78,
but more struggles on the greens did little to turn the story of his week at the U.S. Open into anything close to inspiring.
“I thought I was more prepared than I was,” Mickelson told Golfweek in the player parking lot as he prepared to leave the course on Friday.
“The U.S. Open is the ultimate test. And you don’t really know where your game is until you get tested, and I thought I was little bit closer than I was.”
Of 78 players who finished in the morning on Friday, Mickelson beat just eight with his 11-over total, two of them amateurs.
There was no facet that seemed to be clicking, no matter how many thumbs up he flashed to a mostly positive crowd after playing in just his second event since a four-month break from the game.
“I really struggled with putting,” said Mickelson, who will miss the cut for the fifth time in 31 U.S. Open starts. “I’m struggling with the putter, last week and this week”