U.S. Open: Phil Mickelson suffers another bad day at Winged Foot

Phil Mickelson suffered another bad day at Winged Foot on Thursday in the first round of the U.S. Open. Adding that to 2006 is a bad combination.

Everyone remembers the nightmare that Phil Mickelson suffered at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot. As Mickelson approached the 18th green, he had a share of the lead in the one major he needed to win to conquer the career Grand Slam.

But as history has shown us time and again leading up to this week, Mickelson hit his drive off a hospitality tent and went on to make a double bogey, falling out of the lead and coming up one shot shy of eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy.

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There was much talk about that 2006 Open this week as the event returned to Winged Foot for the first time since that fateful day. The dreamers among golf fans hoped that the now 50 year old Mickelson could muster some magic this week and contend for the one major title he’s never won.

Things started out very well for Mickelson in that quest. He actually birdied the first two holes on his round and quickly got to 2-under par. At that point, the dream was still alive.

But it didn’t last long. Mickelson would bogey the third hole. Then the fourth. Then the fifth. He went from 2-under to 1-over in the span of three holes.

Mickelson recorded his first par of the day on the sixth hole and followed that with another par on seven. However, he would bogey the eighth hole to slip to 2-over. That’s where he finished his front nine, shooting a 37.

The back nine was not any better for Mickelson. In fact, it was much, much worse.

It started with a bogey on the 10th hole. After pars on 11 and 12, Mickelson had a stretch of holes that he would rather forget.

On the 13th hole, he recorded a bogey. He followed that with a double bogey on the 14th and a bogey on the 15th. At that point, he was 7-over par.

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Mickelson parred the 16th but had bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes to finish his round. His 9-over par 79 left him tied for 142nd place, ahead of just one player in the field, amateur Lukas Michel.

Winged Foot has turned into a house of horrors for Mickelson, mostly because of what happened in 2006. But his 9-over par 79 on Thursday is a round that Lefty will never forget. For all of the wrong reasons.

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