Phil Mickelson isn’t having the birthday he hoped for at the US Open in the first round and Twitter doesn’t care at all that he turns 52 on Thursday.
At The Country Club this week for the US Open, Phil Mickelson was going to demand a ton of attention no matter what happened. With his decision to join LIV Golf, his controversial comments, revelations about his personal life, and so on, he was going to be the focus of many people.
But in all that, the one thing that no one seemed to talk about was the fact that the 52-year-old, whose birthday was on Thursday during his first round, has played only one competitive golf tournament in many months — last week’s LIV Golf inaugural event in London — and didn’t look good in that one start either.
That bad form wasn’t done any favors by a course at Brookline that was playing extremely difficult but Mickelson looked terrible. He was sitting a 6-over through the first 10 holes before making his first birdie. Naturally, he double-bogeyed the next to drop to 7-over.
And as you might imagine, Twitter users didn’t hesitate to fire off their jokes and trolls as Mickelson’s expense amid his struggles.
US Open: Phil Mickelson being trolled mercilessly for awful first round
It was a complete and uncontained troll-fest with Phil Mickelson as the focus on social media.
I’d be intrigued by a tour with no-cut events, too pic.twitter.com/OBjnSgoqGt
— ANTIFAldo (@ANTIFAldo) June 16, 2022
The bad news for Phil: He's +5 thru 6 holes and on his way out of town.
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) June 16, 2022
The good news for Phil: The tour he plays on doesn't require good golf at all.
Mickelson has gone from the U.S. Open bridesmaid to the evil mistress
— Doug Kezirian (@DougESPN) June 16, 2022
Phil Mickelson looks like he’s about to book a middle seat on JetBlue for Friday night right about now
— Amanda Rose (@AmandaGolf59) June 16, 2022
Phil Mickelson is currently beating two amateurs at the U.S. Open and losing to 11 of them.
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) June 16, 2022
Phil Mickelson after shooting +20 today pic.twitter.com/R5b0yCOnBZ
— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) June 16, 2022
At least we know the Saudis didn't sign up Mickelson for his golf.
— Ewan Murray (@mrewanmurray) June 16, 2022
https://twitter.com/tobytarrant/status/1537519263166111750
https://twitter.com/SkySportsGolf/status/1537517214773006338
Seems like the lack of a shotgun start is impacting Mickelson.
— Matt Mosley (@mattmosley) June 16, 2022
With his comments about the PGA Tour and the early status of LIV Golf, the jokes basically wrote themselves — especially when you also throw in Mickelson’s longstanding struggles when it comes to the US Open.
It feels safe to say that Mickelson’s stateside return to the game of golf is going to be a two-day venture. And as several Twitter users wondered, you do have to think that maybe LIV Golf thought they were getting something different than this version of Phil Mickelson as a golfer.
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