Phil still hitting bombs!

Last Sunday night had it all with the rain lashing against the kitchen window. Danny Healy-Rea not giving a toss about the planet, my eldest boy’s first experience working for the national broadcaster at the general election count in my home town, where a good friend was running and Phil Mickelson just messing around on the back 9 at Pebble Beach. It was nice to see Seamus Power make the cut for Sunday and pick up a nice cheque to get his season properly underway. The West Waterford man was very candid in a recent interview about his objectives for the season ahead. With the vast number of college players entering the professional ranks each year he knows he’ll have to make every start count if he hopes to regain his PGA card for next season. The AT&T Pro-Am seems to be a fairly big deal stateside and judging by the field that gathered there last weekend it’s certainly on the radar for a number of high profile players, golf industry A listers and a few B list celebrities because the A list celebrates were all up the road at the Oscars.

Phil is in all kinds of trouble at the moment, looking more and more likely that he’ll miss this year’s US Open and refusing to accept an invite if it is offered. A member of the “I only need one more specific Major to have a career Grand Slam” club, it looks like that he’ll have to wait for the 2021 version which will be staged at Torrey Pines. Some of his play over the weekend was majestic especially a number of up and downs and it seems that there might be one more Major tilt left in him. His commentary on golf related matters particularly the recent report on distance may be hard to swallow as well as his weight loss been hard to understand but Phil is still box office and his podium finish will certainly give him confidence for the rest of the year.

The majority of golf fans know that our sport is a soap opera and one of the subplots that has been hanging around for the last 18 months or so is the form or should I say the lack of form of Jordan Spieth, who also happens to be a member of the aforementioned club. Even to the unqualified eye and long before we witnessed that wayward drive that nearly cost him the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, we all knew he had an unconventional swing to say the least. Going into the final round on Sunday he knew that a top 10 in the event would move him into the top 50 in the world rankings and make his life a little easier over the coming weeks. He converted a 25 foot chip-in on his final hole for a par which resulted in him finishing in 9th place, thus qualifying him for the World Golf Championships which are hosted in Mexico this week; mission accomplished!