BROOKLINE, Mass. – Over three decades, fans of Phil Mickelson have become accustomed to his shortcomings at the U.S. Open. There’ve been three solo second-place finishes, a trio of ties for second, and a couple fourths, each failed tilt at the National Open—30, in all—making its own fibrous contribution to his scar tissue. Not since the rain-plagued 109th Open at Bethpage Black has Mickelson authored one of his disappointments on a Monday, but he got it out of the way at the 122nd Open before most fans were even on the grounds at The Country Club.
Mickelson’s press conference was his first time facing U.S. media since becoming the poster boy and most prominent apologist for LIV Golf, the series of sportswashing events funded by the Saudi Arabian regime that kicked off last week in the U.K. Questions were plentiful about his new venture—which earned him a suspension from the PGA Tour but not from the U.S. Open, where Jay Monahan’s writ does not run—but meaningful answers were scarce. Instead, Mickelson produced an exercise in evasions that would rival a pitcher dodging line drives at Fenway.
