Not many ‘thumbs up’ for Mickelson’s video or his play in PGA Championship

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This article was published 19/05/2019 (2693 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MICKELSON ALL THUMBS

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. —The Phil Mickelson videos keep getting stranger, and the scores aren’t getting any lower.

Mickelson tweeted a tongue-in-cheek video on Saturday morning in which he talks about how many thumbs-up he wanted to produce in the third round of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. It opened with him doing thumb exercises on his steering wheel.

“Thumb activation,” Mickelson says, looking into the camera. “I’ve been preparing for weeks for Bethpage. I’ve been activating, sometimes using single rubber bands, sometimes double rubber bands, in preparation for this week.”

“Going for the record today,” Mickelson wrote on the post. “I need 6-7 birdies to warrant this many thumbs-up. Let’s do this!”

He then went out and made only three birdies against nine bogeys to shoot a 6-over 76 that was his second-worst score in the PGA since 2009.

VARNER LAUGHS IT OFF

Beyond Tiger Woods, Harold Varner III is the only other African-American golfer on the PGA Tour. It requires a sense of humour sometimes, especially in New York.

“Some of the stuff they say cracks me up,” Varner, laughing, said after shooting 3-under-par 67 on Saturday to get into the final group today with Koepka. “They are like, ‘Tiger! Tiger!’ So that one gets me.”

Woods missed the weekend, but the 28-year-old Varner, from Akron, Ohio, will play on the biggest stage of his career in the fourth round at Bethpage Black. In his fourth full season on tour, Varner is only competing in his fifth major, and had only made the cut once before.

Varner stands in a four-way tie for second, seven shots behind.

“It’s awesome. It’s a great opportunity,” Varner said. “It’s going to be a great day, no matter what happens.”

Varner doesn’t seem too miffed by the jokes about him being Woods.

“The reason I play golf is because of my dad,” he said. “The reason I watch golf is because of Tiger.”

With his only professional win coming in the 2017 Australian Open, Varner has played his last 23 holes at Bethpage in 7 under, which is probably what he would need to shoot for 18 today to have a chance to catch Koepka.

Of the huge gap to first place, Varner said: “The first thing that comes to mind is I think it’s great for golf. If you don’t go to sleep and think, ‘Man, this makes me want to work harder, if I can be that good,’ then I don’t know why you’re playing.

“You can’t sit there and just weep and be, like, ‘He’s so much better.’ I think that’s going to push you. It almost pisses me off. That’s what I think.”

SCHAUFFELE EYES payday

Nine shots off the lead at 3 under after recording his best score of the week (68), Xander Schauffele knows he’s not going to win the tournament. But with a shot at another high finish in a major, he has more than a few other things to play for.

Second place here is worth US$1.2 million and a bunch of world ranking and FedEx Cup points.

“Sounds good to me right now,” Schauffele, 25, said with a grin.

“It’s all about winning out there, but no one wins that much. We have so much to play for out here —the Wyndham Rewards and the FedEx Cup. Everything’s on the table. It’s just as big as a major championship. I’ll go to sleep thinking about those things tonight.”

The standings for the Wyndham and FedEx are the same, and Schauffele entered the week No. 2 in both, behind Matt Kuchar.

The Wyndham is a new race that pays US$10 million to the top 10 players in the “regular season,” before the playoffs begin. If Schauffele were to finish second in both of them, he’d cash an extra US$6.5 million — US$1.5 million in the Wyndham and US$5 million in the FedEx Cup. The top prize in each, respectively, is US$2 million and US$15 million.

This week, Schauffele, currently ranked ninth in the world, can post his fifth top-6 finish in a major in only nine career starts. It would be his first strong showing in the PGA, coming off a tie for second at the Masters.

“C-plus, B-minus,” Schauffele offered as grades he’d give himself. “I’ve had some spurts of ‘A’ game, and a few ‘F’ shots in there, too. It’s been a mixed bag, definitely on the inconsistent side.”

Schauffele hasn’t been able to put any strong runs together, only twice making back-to-back birdies. He strung out three birdies on Saturday, with only a single bogey at the 10th.

BOGEYS FOR BEEM

Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA champion, made the cut on the number when he shot 30 on the back nine (69 total) on Friday. In the third round, Beem double-bogeyed the 16th and 18th holes to score 12-over 82. Beam also made six bogeys in seven holes from the 7th through 13th.

— San Diego Union-Tribune