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Phil Mickelson is just like the rest of us! (Or at least he is when playing from the opposite side)

May 06, 2014

__As the story goes, a right-handed Phil Mickelson only learned to play golf lefty because of how he would stand opposite his father when learning the swing. Some four decades later, one can only guess how Mickelson would have fared on the PGA Tour had he stayed with his natural side all this time. Odds are he'd still be pretty good. But since all we have to go on is what we see now, we can report he's not quite good enough.

In a practice round for the Players at TPC Sawgrass, Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler all injected some intrigue into their tee shots on the 17th hole by hitting from the opposite side. Of the three, only Fowler was able to find the green, knocking it impressively to about 12 feet, while Johnson and Mickelson both found the water.

Saw Rickie Fowler hit a shot left-handed at TPC 17th. Knocked it to about 12 feet. That's unfair. #GolfIsHard

— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) May 6, 2014 Mickelson, in fact, barely advanced his first attempt, then hit a more respectable second shot --which also found the water.

The point is that even when playing from the opposite side, your favorite PGA Tour players still probably have a better swing than you. But it might at least drop him a hair closer back to earth.