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Why Phil Mickelson’s Open playing partner told Lefty that he’s hated him for 11 years

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2 years ago

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Much was made about Phil Mickelson’s Open Championship pairing during the week leading up to the 150th edition of the event at St. Andrews. The six-time major champion has been one of the biggest stars in the game and an all-time great player.

Therefore, when it was announced that he’d be grouped with Kurt Kitayama and Lucas Herbert for his first two rounds it came as a bit of a shock. With all due respect to Kitayama and Herbert, it’s not the star-studded group you’d expect for last year’s PGA Championship winner.

It also came as a bit of a shock to the Australian, Lucas Herbert. Not because he was in awe by the star power of Mickelson, but because he’s hated Phil for more than 10 years.

Herbert shared the story on Instagram.

“Hey, Instagram, just shot two-under in the morning in the first round of the Open,” Herbert began. “Thank you for all the messages and what-not. Thought I would share a funny story for you all. So played with Phil today. Had an enjoyable day watching him play. And have a little backstory with Phil. So 2011 Presidents Cup, it’s Royal Melbourne, I’m 15 years old. I lied about my age to get into the volunteer network and become a standard bearer for the week carrying around the little scoreboards that update the gallery of what the group scores are on throughout the day. … Really enjoyed it.”

“Didn’t carry a board for Phil. But on the final day of play, I was hanging about, trying to get autographs, just wanting to be amongst it; thought it was the coolest thing ever. So hanging about the U.S. boys and everyone was signing this hat that I had. And I was passing it around to everyone, and everyone was great; everyone signed it. I asked Phil for an autograph, and he was the only one to deny me of this autograph.”

The roster of the 2011 Presidents Cup was loaded with stars and included Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Steve Stricker, Webb Simpson, Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, David Toms, Bill Haas, Hunter Mahan and Nick Watney. Having only one member of the team refuse to sign the hat to get the whole team I’d imagine would be quite disappointing for a 15-year-old.

Herbert made sure to remind Phil of his refusal to autograph the hat.

“So I reminded Phil of this today,” Herbert said. “On the 15th tee, I reminded him that I hate him and have hated him for 11 years as a result of him not signing the autograph for me. And he was very apologetic, and he played along and it was pretty funny.”

Herbert then slowed the video down and gave a detailed breakdown of Mickelson’s snub.

“Now you might not have seen it because it is in the background, but I will go through it again and show you the detailed analysis, the action replay of this snub of an autograph,” Herbert said. “So as we look here on the action replay, we’ve got the shot coming in. There’s Herbie on the left there, Titleist cap; sorry, hadn’t seen the light yet, TaylorMade. But Herbie on the left, standard bearer, moving across at Phil, who’s hidden behind the other standard bearer volunteer. Now Phil comes into frame here. You see: ‘Hey, Phil, can I get an autograph?’

“And you see the shake of the head, ‘No, absolutely not,’ and the signature hand gesture up there later on. ‘I’m with Amy. Go away.’”

Herbert got the last laugh, as he went on to finish in a tie for 15th place at The Open Championship while Mickelson missed the cut.

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Rory McIlroy working with Butch Harmon ahead of 2024 Masters

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2 hours ago

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Apr 3, 2024

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A few weeks ahead of the Masters, Rory McIlroy is working with legendary swing coach, Butch Harmon.

McIlroy has been struggling with a “left miss” with his iron shots, which he spoke about a few weeks ago with the Irish Golfer.

“Another great week off the tee. I feel like I found a good feeling with the putting as well. I putted well the last three days. Just the iron play’s let me down,” he said.

“It’s sort of been the same story the last few weeks, sort of struggling with a left miss with the irons and it’s hard because the longer clubs, the woods, feel so good and then the irons don’t really feel that good, so I feel like I’m having to put like two different swings on the woods and the irons at the minute, which is a struggle. But everything else feels pretty good, so if I can get the irons tightened up, I feel like I’ll be in a good spot.”

The following week, the four-time major champion got off to a fast start at TPC Sawgrass for The PLAYERS Championship, grabbing the first-round lead, but struggled to keep momentum and finished T19.

That’s when he went to see Butch.

It isn’t the first time McIlroy and Harmon have linked up. Rory has consulted with Tiger Woods’ former coach a few times in the past (and probably much more often than many people realize), most recently in 2020.

McIlroy is set to tee it up at the Valero Texas Open this week, where we will begin to look for signs of the Harmon/McIlroy pairing paying off.

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Brandel Chamblee calls out multiple players for poor form ahead of Masters; Says Scottie Scheffler can win ‘putting poorly’

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2 hours ago

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Apr 3, 2024

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On Tuesday, Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee took to X to share his thoughts on some of the best players in the lead up to the 2024 Masters Tournament.

“A big topic early in the week of The Masters on the LIVE FROM set will be how poorly many of the best players in the world are playing this year and why.

These are the players most off in form (SG Total) who were in the top 20 last year on the eve of the Masters.

1) Patrick Cantlay -1.767
2) Matt Fitzpatrick -1.608
3) Max Homa -1.558
4) Viktor Hovland -1.401
5) Tom Kim -1.388
6) Collin Morikawa -1.331
7) Tony Finau -1.265
8) Rory Mcilroy -1.023
9) Justin Thomas -.618

In addition to these players, Tommy Fleetwood who was 27th in the world last year at this time is -2.049 worse in Strokes Gained Total year over year…and Keegan Bradley who was 22nd in the world last year at this time is -.842 worse in Strokes Gained Total.

In addition to this, there is some statistical analysis (mind you the stats on LIV aren’t great) that will show how the games of many of the stars on LIV have fallen off as well.

This will do one of two things in my opinion. It will either make this year’s Masters (which is bar far the most predictable major) wide open or an absolute cake walk for Scottie Scheffler given how few stars are playing well in the world.”

The post doesn’t take into consideration the fact that Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood both won in Dubai early this year, which Chamblee addresses in a subsequent tweet.

“Rory won the Hero Dubai which was about half the strength of The American Express field and Fleetwood won the Dubai Invitational which was about 1/3 the field strength of The Sony Open… they have each played 5 times on The PGA Tour, and in the strongest fields, so trying to compare who they will compete against at The Masters as best I can. I don’t ignore those wins, but statistically I’m trying to compare apples to apples.”

Later, when asked for his “top 4 picks” Chamblee speculated on what the top players, with the exception of Scottie Scheffler, struggling could mean for The Masters.

Scheffler does look hard to beat heading into Augusta, but in golf, the best player winning is far from a sure thing.

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‘Much like her jump shot. Smooth’ – Caitlin Clark’s golf swing has people impressed

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2 hours ago

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Apr 3, 2024

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Caitlin Clark, who’s the best collegiate women’s basketball player in the country, has been taking the sports world by storm with her incredible play on the court.

As it turns out, her golf swing isn’t too bad either.

Fans were generally impressed with Clark’s swing in the comments under the post from NUCLR golf.

The consensus seems to be that the swing shows Clark’s athleticism.

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