CROMWELL, Conn. – Phil Mickelson believes that age could be an advantage.
Playing his first tournament since turning 50 this month, the five-time senior champion shot a 7-under-63 on Friday in the Travelers Championship to take a 1-hit lead over the weekend. He is the first player in 50 years to have a 36-hole lead in a PGA Tour event since Fred Couples (52) at the 2012 Masters, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Couples was tied for the lead through two rounds.
Lefty said perhaps it was the wisdom that comes with his age that made him stay within himself rather than come face to face with his longtime playmates Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau.
“There are a few holes I can open up and try to hit the pilot, but I really just want to put it into play on many holes and let my wedges take over, and I’ve done a lot of good wedge shots this week.” “said Mickelson, winner of the 2001 and 2002 tournament.
Mickelson was 13 and younger than 127.
First-round leader Mackenzie Hughes followed a 60 start with a 68 to drop to a tie for second with 23-year-old Will Gordon, who led most of the day after shooting 62.
Since winning at Pebble Beach earlier this year for his 44th PGA Tour title, Mickelson has struggled, with far more cuts lost than good results.
On Friday in the wooded TPC River Highlands, Mickelson bogeyed on his second hole before moving up the ladder. He made the first of his eight birdies from a green bunker at n. 5th and shot 30 in the last nine.
While Mickelson is doing his 624th PGA Tour, Gordon is on his eighth tour with a sponsor exemption.
He had nine little birds and only missed a few others, including on the fourth hole where his 35-foot putt birdie stopped at the edge of the cup.
The former Vanderbilt star continues a long tradition of young players taking a break at TPC River Highlands. Since 1996, 77 of the tournament’s 98 unrestricted sponsor invitations have been sent to players with fewer than 15 starts along the way, and those players have combined to score 90 wins.
“I was supposed to play three events that were canceled by COVID, so those guys are going to take the risk and believe me means the world,” Gordon said.
McIlroy followed his first-round 63 with a 68. He was tied for fourth, 4 strokes behind the leader and happy to be in contention.
“I know what it’s like to come down here, so I’ll need a couple of good ones over the weekend,” he said. “But the game feels in good shape, and obviously he’ll be out early tomorrow and try to get back into the mix.”
DeChambeau, the third member of the carp trio, had the most entertaining round of the three. He was 8 years old after a 67 which included the strangest ghost of the day.
His tee shot on the 10th par 4 hole hit the cart path, rolled and rolled, and ended 428 yards off the tee and 48 yards from the hole.
But after shooting on the green, after jumping very close to the hole, he missed a 7-foot putt.
“I tried to hit a 35-yard shot and it came out 50 yards, and I said, ‘What’s going on?'” He said. “There are some things that I still have to figure out and some things that I still clearly don’t understand with the wedge.”
Two players withdrew on Friday due to the coronavirus: Denny McCarthy for a positive test, and Bud Cauley, who tested negative but decided to withdraw after playing alongside McCarthy on Thursday. There have been seven COVID-19 related recalls.
Collin Morikawa is also heading home, but not on COVID-19. The 23-year-old Californian missed the cut for the first time in his PGA Tour career after rounds of 72-71.
Morikawa had made 22 consecutive cuts since turning pro, the longest streak since Tiger Woods began his PGA Tour career with 25 consecutive cuts.
“It was meant to happen at some point,” said Morikawa. “Who knows when that was going to be. But now I guess we are going to stop talking about it and I can go on and on next week. I will learn a lot from this week.”
There is rain in the forecast for Saturday, with the players grouped into trios and starting on the first and tenth shirts.
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