LYTHAM ST. ANNES, ENGLAND - Phil Mickelson left the British Open perplexed about the state of his game. More surprising is that he left on Friday.
He hit into bunkers and into the high grass. He hit a spectator and nearly drilled a photographer who was crouched in the line of his shot about 20 yards away. He wound up with a 7-over-par 78 and missed the cut in a major for the first in five years, dating to Carnoustie in 2007.
His 18 consecutive cuts in the majors had been the longest current streak.
"I don't know what to say," Mickelson said, a phrase he repeated a half-dozen times in an interview.
Mickelson next plays the Bridgestone Invitational in two weeks, followed by the final major of the year, the PGA Championship. He said his health was not an issue.
"I'm fine," he said. "I don't know what to say about my play. "
Watson's lucky rollTom Watson captured the zaniness of his last two holes Friday perfectly: "the ridiculous to the sublime."
A careless miss from 2 feet at No. 17 produced a bogey left him 4 over par, certain he was going to miss the cut. Then, at No. 18, Watson misread the break on a 35-footer for birdie, started it on the wrong line and watched as "it just did a duck hook at the end there and went right into the hole."
