Phil Mickelson misses cut after 76: 'I don't have a good explanation'
— -- SAN DIEGO -- Phil Mickelson went from being in contention to missing the 36-hole cut at the Farmers Insurance Open on Friday, a somewhat surprising development at his hometown tournament.
Mickelson moved to within two shots of the lead after consecutive birdies five holes into his round on the North Course at Torrey Pines, but he played his last nine holes in 5-over par to shoot 76 and miss the cut by two strokes at the Farmers Insurance Open.
A 42-time PGA Tour winner and World Golf Hall of Famer, Mickelson had opened the tournament on Thursday with a 3-under-par 69 on the tougher South course and looked to get closer to the lead with a round on the North, which played three strokes easier than the South during the opening round.
Instead, he'll have the weekend off.
"I don't have a good explanation,'' Mickelson said after finishing at 145, 1-over par. "I had a good round going, I was 1 under par and had some birdie holes coming up, and I don't know, it just kind of slipped. I wasn't really as mentally sharp as I need to be.
"Yesterday, I thought, 'Wow, it's really starting to feel good,' after that round on the South course. I thought, 'I'm going to go to the North course and really light it up.' I think I kind of started to press a little bit. But that stuff happens.
"I'm not worried about where the ball striking is. I'll spend a little time on the short game. But other than that, I wish I was playing because I feel like the more I play, the better it's going to get.''
Mickelson had a double bogey, six bogeys and four birdies, his double coming at his ninth hole, the par-5 18th, where he ran into difficulty after his second shot seemed to have gone out of bounds.
The ball bounded along a sidewalk and came to rest underneath a metal fence that was determined to be the out-of-bounds line.
Officials ruled that his ball was in bounds, and Mickelson turned a club over and awkwardly advanced a ball into a greenside bunker.
But from there, he blasted onto the green and then three-putted for a double bogey.
Defending champion Jason Day, No. 2 in the world, also missed the cut, and was joined by No. 4 Rickie Fowler, who was riding high from his victory five days ago in Abu Dhabi, and No. 7 Justin Rose.
Gary Woodland powered his way to a 5-under 67 on the South Course and had a share of the lead with K.J. Choi, who shot 67 on the North. Choi has not won in five years on the PGA Tour.
Dustin Johnson had a 66 on the North and was one shot back.
Mickelson, after birdieing the first and second holes, appeared to be back on track but made some sloppy mistakes that led to three straight bogeys to end the round, including the par-5 ninth.
"It's just dumb little things like that, and I just wasn't quite sharp," he said. "But I still feel the swing was pretty easy, I hit a lot of great drives around my second nine and I don't really know what to say because the score's now I feel like I'm starting to play."
Mickelson, 45, made a coaching change in the fall, switching from long-time instructor Butch Harmon to Andrew Getson, an Australian based in Arizona.
Mickelson spoke Wednesday about how encouraged he was at getting back to some things in his swing that had been missing.
Last week at the CareerBuilder Challenge, Mickelson tied for third and played the final 36 holes of the tournament without a bogey.
He is scheduled to play next week's Waste Management Phoenix Open as well as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am in two weeks.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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