Phil Mickelson shows true colors with reaction to PGA Championship meltdown

Phil Mickelson is known as one of the great short-game players, however, the LIV Golf star had a moment to forget in a bunker during his second round at the PGA Championship

Phil Mickelson’s short game deserted him during the second round of the PGA Championship, after the LIV Golf man took four shots to get out of a green-side bunker.

Keen to bounce back from a nightmare start to the tournament on Thursday, Mickelson looked back to his old self throughout the second round. The HyFlyers captain, who was crowned the oldest major champion of all time at the PGA in 2021, started well in round two.

Mickelson played his opening nine holes at Quail Hollow on day two in two-under-par, heading to the turn after making three birdies in a row between the seventh and ninth.

After a par at the 10th, another birdie followed at the 11th, with the LIV man mounting an unlikely charge to make the cut. Things, however, soon went wrong for Mickelson when making his way to the 12th, having uncharacteristically struggled in and around the green.

Having found the bunker to the left of the putting surface, what followed left those watching on in shock. Despite being regarded as one of the greatest wedge players of all time, Mickelson went on to take three failed swipes out of the sand before eventually escaping with a fourth shot.

Finally, with putter in hand, Mickelson went on to two-putt before making his way off the nightmare hole with a quadruple bogey eight. In typical Mickelson fashion, however, the nightmare at the 12th did not appear to faze him, despite seemingly costing him his spot over the weekend.

Quick to put his eighth to the back of his mind, he bounced back by making a birdie at the very next hole, after hitting a superb 211-yard approach into the lengthy par three. Mickelson was not done there, either, as a second-straight birdie followed at 14 to soften the blow of two holes earlier.

This moved him to seven-over for the week and one-under for the day, but the HyFlyers member soon fell back to level, making a bogey five at the 16th. A par and a final bogey would then follow for Mickelson as his second round, and the tournament came to an end. The damage was seemingly done a day earlier, despite his bunker meltdown on Friday.

It ensured the LIV man missed a second-straight cut on the major championship stage, having fallen to the same fate at the Masters last month. It may well have come as a surprise to Mickelson himself, who was bullish about his game heading into the major season.

Having secured his career-best LIV performance with a third-place finish in Hong Kong, Mickelson said: “I’m playing some good golf, and this is a building week as I continue to build into LIV and my goal of accomplishing a win in LIV as well as winning another major, getting ready for Augusta.”