Phil Mickelson was on an absolute roll on Sunday at Pebble Beach, and like anybody who has ever been in the zone on the golf course, he did not want to stop playing. Never mind the fact that the sun had set, and it was bordering on being pitch black out. Lefty would not take no for an answer, and could be heard saying "I can see fine," on the CBS broadcast, despite all signs pointing to the contrary.
Even after PGA Tour rules official Mark Russell explained to Mickelson that they would be returning on Monday to finish, and Paul Casey could be seen marking his ball on the 16th green, Mickelson was on a mission. He stormed to the 17th tee, still hoping he could at least hit one more tee shot, make a par and try to persuade everyone to finish the 18th in the darkness. He was not successful in this endeavor, and when the horn sounded, Mickelson's reaction was captured on the 17th tee, and it was an eye roll for the ages:
Pure disgust. That is an eye roll that dads who have just been told "we need to go food shopping today" dream of. And don't discount the gum snapping and angry jaw movement. That man is SEETHING.
It was somewhat understandable, as Phil was playing some of his best golf of the week. Through 16 holes he was six under and bogey free, opening up a three-shot lead he'll take into tomorrow, when he'll try to win on the PGA Tour for the 44th time in his career and for a record-tying fifth-time at Pebble Beach. He was much more understanding of Casey's viewpoint afterwards.
"I get exactly where Paul's coming from," Mickelson said. "It's dark and we're going to have a good chance tomorrow to come out on fresh greens and have them mown. They got pretty rough this afternoon so I totally get it. But I have pretty good vision, I can see fine, and I'm playing well, so I wanted to continue and that's all there is to it. But I totally get where he's coming from. And in all honesty it's probably a good thing because now we'll play the last couple holes in pure conditions and it will be helpful for us both."
Perfect amount of passive aggressiveness from Phil there. What a character. He certainly didn't go down without a fight:
"Let's play 17 and see how it goes" is a conversation every golfer who has had the last tee time off 1 has had in their lives. "I swear, if the sun just magically comes back out for like 5 minutes and we sprint from shot to shot we can finish this round." Air tight logic. Never change, Phil.
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