Phil Mickelson briefly tied for the lead Friday at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, but a disappointing finish left him with a 3-under 67.
Starting on No. 10, Mickelson made three birdies and no bogeys on his opening nine. He reached 7 under par and tied for the lead with birdies at Nos. 1, 3 and 5.
But Mickelson closed with two bogeys, a birdie and a double bogey at No. 9 to finish at 4 under par, five behind co-leaders Chez Reavie, Charl Schwartzel and Sebastian Munoz.
“It’s a disappointing way to finish the round,” Mickelson said. “I made a poor swing [at No. 9] and made double. I hit a lot of really good shots today and had a chance to shoot something really low. Unfortunately, didn’t get the score out of it.”
Lefty’s driving improved in Round 2, allowing him to be more aggressive on his second shots. In his opening 1-under 69, Mickelson only hit five fairways, but on Friday he found 11 of 14 fairways.
It’s a formula he hopes to repeat this weekend in his last start before (likely) missing next week’s U.S. Open to attend his daughter’s high school graduation.
“It was encouraging … some of the shots I hit,” he said. “If I do the same thing this weekend, I think I’ll shoot a lot lower score than I shot today.”
Source: Internet
