Phil Mickelson Makes Double Bogey at LIV Golf Miami After Worst Break Imaginable

Mickelson had a short pitch to get on Doral's par-4 6th green, then disaster struck.
Phil Mickelson had a very unlucky break during the final round of LIV Miami.
Phil Mickelson had a very unlucky break during the final round of LIV Miami. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

It was the worst break imaginable. 

In the final round of LIV Miami at Doral, Phil Mickelson had a short pitch to get on the green at the par-4 6th. However, his shot clanked off the flagstick and rolled back into the water adjacent to the putting surface. 

Mickelson would exit the hole carding a double bogey. 

It appeared the six-time major champion was rattled, as he made bogey on the next hole. 

Before his misfortune, Mickelson was just a stroke back of the lead. Making the turn, though, he was five behind. 

“Hitting the pin and going in the water? Yeah, it was unfortunate,” Mickelson said after a sixth-place finish. “I don't know what to say. Obviously, I hit the chip a little high on the flag, like it was going to be 12, 15 feet long, but certainly water wasn’t in play.

“I don't get why—I don’t know if it’s that the pins are those big firm—they’re not the thin fiberglass like we used to have that would absorb it a little bit better. Boy, they just ding off of these things. That was an unfortunate example of it.”

After Round 2, Mickelson was asked if he’d rather win LIV Miami (he has yet to win a LIV event in four years) or another Masters next week. A pretty wild question, considering the answer seems pretty clear, but Mickelson didn’t choose one over the other. 

“That’s an interesting question. I’m not going to really take the bait,” the 54-year-old said. “I think winning any tournament at this stage would be a really strong achievement, and looking at the field that we play against here on LIV week in and week out, the quality of the players here are so strong that that would be a real accomplishment, but so would a major where you have all the best players, too.”

However, after his unlucky break on No. 6, Mickelson might be shifting his victory hopes to Augusta.


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Max Schreiber
MAX SCHREIBER

Max Schreiber is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, covering golf. Before joining SI in October 2024, the Mahwah, N.J., native, worked as an associate editor for the Golf Channel and wrote for RyderCup.com and FanSided. He is a multiplatform producer for Newsday and has a bachelor's in communications and journalism from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, you can find him doing anything regarding the Yankees, Giants, Knicks and Islanders.