Will Phil Mickelson play the U.S. Open or won’t he? Forget Shakespeare…that is the question. Ever since Lefty announced that he will likely be missing this year’s Open at Erin Hills due to his daughter’s high school graduation, folks have been trying to figure out any feasible way the 46-year-old six-time runner-up can make it including starting a petition to move the commencement ceremony. However, if there’s somebody who knows the exact details of what needs to happen, it’s Phil.
“I need a four-hour delay,” Mickelson told CBS after a final-round 68 of the FedEx St. Jude Classic. “I need a minimum four-hour delay, most likely. That’s the way I’ve kind of mapped it out.”
According to Mickelson the flight to Erin, Wisconsin is three hours and twenty minutes, and knows in order for him to make his 2:20 local tee time, he basically needs a significant weather delay to happen.
Mickelson has run the scenarios and gone over the numbers for the #USOpen.
‘I need a four-hour delay.’ https://t.co/OKnezWqOfw pic.twitter.com/yeJAv5tIUj
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) June 12, 2017
However, in typical optimist fashion, Mickelson plans to keep his game “sharp” in the coming days and even went so far to say if he does somehow make it, he likes his chances even though he hasn’t even stepped foot on the property.
“I’m not going to really be prepared for Erin Hills. I haven’t gone there, I don’t know the golf course. I’d be showing up there on the first tee for the first time, and I would be relying on Bones to steer me around every single shot,” Mickelson said. “Sometimes not seeing or knowing where the trouble is, or how bad it is, and seeing only where you want the ball to go, can sometimes be good in a tournament as tough as the U.S. Open.”
As of Monday night, the forecast for Thursday is only calling for a 20% chance of precipitation. According to Phil, that’s still better than zero.
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