Phil Mickelson won’t be involved in the 2025 Ryder Cup in an official capacity for the U.S. team. But the six-time major champion couldn’t help but get himself in the Ryder Cup mix this week. How? By panning a top U.S. Ryder Cup hopeful and PGA Tour pro over his slow play.
The incident happened at the 2025 Tour Championship, where a video of Patrick Cantlay taking a long, long time to hit a shot at East Lake drew Mickelson’s ire.
Patrick Cantlay’s slow play bothers Phil
Cantlay had a great week at the Tour Championship, contending for the title until the end. But a 71 in the final round cost him a shot at the win, and he could only watch as Tommy Fleetwood took home the FedEx Cup title and its $10 million winner’s prize.
Still, Cantlay finished T2 for his best result of the 2025 season. But it wasn’t Cantlay’s fine play that caught the attention of viewers watching at home and Mickelson alike.
It was his glacial pace.
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Cantlay has long been one of the slowest players on the PGA Tour. But a specific aspect of his pace caused controversy at the Tour Championship: his foot waggles.
Before every shot, Cantlay sets up to the ball and then alternatively shuffles both feet and waggles his club. But he doesn’t do it just a few times. He sometimes waggles dozens of times before a shot, reminiscent of Sergio Garcia early in career.
And it’s safe to say Mickelson is not a fan. When Phil saw a video of one of Cantlay’s slower shots from East Lake on social media, he decided to chime in.
In a reply to a post complaining about Cantlay’s slow play that featured the now-deleted video, Mickelson took Cantlay to task. He wrote that Cantlay shuffled his feet “26 times” in the video, then joked a person would need to be in “peak physical condition” to handle such excessive movement on every shot.
“He shuffled his right foot 26 times. 26 TIMES before he hit it. 26 x 36 other shots is 936 foot shuffles. That’s more calf raises than I’ll ever do. You also must be in peak physical condition to do this daily so let’s stop all the hate and appreciate that golfers are athletes,” Mickelson wrote.
American fans famously pilloried Garcia at the 2002 U.S. Open for his own waggling issue. Ironically, that Open was played at Bethpage Black, where Mickelson finished runner-up to Tiger Woods and where the 2025 Ryder Cup will be played. Cantlay is hoping to be a part of that team.
Interestingly, Mickelson and Cantlay have been on the same U.S. team in the past. Cantlay played in his first Ryder Cup in 2021, where he went 3-0-1 to help the Americans secure the victory. Mickelson was one of U.S. captain Steve Stricker’s vice captains that week at Whistling Straits.
Mickelson, Cantlay and the 2025 Ryder Cup
But Mickelson and Cantlay are in very different situations when it comes to the upcoming 2025 Ryder Cup.
When New York’s Bethpage Black was first announced as the host for the Ryder Cup years ago, many predicted Mickelson would captain the U.S. team. But the fallout from Mickelson’s involvement with LIV Golf ended any hope for that outcome.
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Instead, Mickelson has become something of a pariah and likely won’t be at Bethpage at all during Ryder Cup week.
Instead, 39-year-old Keegan Bradley will captain the U.S. team in late September. Cantlay failed to automatically qualify for the U.S. team, so he will have to depend on receiving a captain’s pick from Bradley to play on the team.
Bradley is expected to announce his six captain’s picks for the U.S. team on Wednesday morning.
