Phil Mickelson’s return to Winged Foot for last month’s U.S. Open didn’t go quite as he’d planned. Any dreams of redemption at the site of his most agonizing loss dissipated in Thursday’s round, and Mickelson left Mamaroneck, N.Y. with a trunk slam and early flight home. The good news? Mickelson has another major in his sights just over a month away. And in shifting his focus to the final major of the year, he seems to be zeroing in his training on one thing — speed.
The final act of Mickelson’s career has followed a theme of hitting bombs, and although he’s reached the age of Champions Tour status, he’s still trying to keep up with the kids on the PGA Tour who increasingly drive the ball a country mile. His approach has him slimmer than when he was in his prime but generating clubhead speed that most 50-year-olds would kill for.
The quest for bombs has been a mixed bag — Phil is still being Phil — but with two wins over the past three years, he has experienced a fair bit of success. We all know that Mickelson would kill for a U.S. Open win, but we also know he’d settle for another crack at the major he’s won three times — the Masters. And it appears he’ll take that bomb-focused mentality to Augusta for his 28th appearance in the event.
In a tweet posted yesterday, Mickelson showed us that he’s prepping to tackle Augusta National at another one of Alister MacKenzie’s other crown jewels in Cypress Point.
“Special day with my dad and brother at Cypress and our host John Watson,” he said. “Tried to drive the 362-yard 17th. Didn’t make it but it was only my first day of speed training for the Masters.”
He also included a picture of his Foresight numbers, and the results are quite impressive. He reached 180 mph of ball speed and carried the ball 328 (!) yards. Those numbers look more like a 20-something bomber than that of a guy who just won his first Champions Tour event. They’re not quite Bryson DeChambeau numbers, but around Augusta, they’ll be more than enough to score.
