Phil Mickelson pulls off miracle shot from trees to win Crowne Plaza – Colonial tourney
Perhaps exorcising the demons from the US Open at Winged Foot, Phil Mickelson found himself on the 72nd hole tied for the lead with 2 others at the Colonial. His drive was hit perfectly — straight into the trees on the left, reminiscent of what happened to Lefty at Winged Foot. Phil just rolled his eyes after the drive, thinking, Why do I pay Butch Harmon so much money when I get the same banana drive on the 72nd hole? So did Phil learn this time to chip out and try to get up and down for par?
Forget about it. Lefty decided to go for broke, by hitting a lob wedge up and over the towering trees. All of the commentators were suggesting that Lefty would have to slice it around the trees, or just punch out. No one even thought of going over the trees. Only Phil did.
This time, the golfing gods looked favorably on Mickelson. Even though his ball clipped the tree, it landed beautifully on the green settling 9 feet from the hole. Salivating, Mickelson then sunk the birdie putt for the win. It was Tigeresque. Faldo even surmised that Tiger couldn’t have pulled off the shot that Phil did. I wouldn’t go that far, but it was the Best Shot of the Year (so far).
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