Win probabilities: 3M Open

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PARAMUS, N.J. – Phil Mickelson has a lot on his plate these days. For one thing: Twitter. He just dove in with an account earlier this week at THE NORTHERN TRUST, where two closing bogeys dropped him out of the lead but still gave him a second straight 68 (6 under) at Ridgewood Country Club. He was within two of early second-round leader Sean O’Hair (69) with the afternoon wave yet to complete their second rounds. At the very least, the solid start promised to give Mickelson something benign to tweet about, which should put his kids at ease about Dad’s leap into the wild, wooly world of social media. “They are nervous (laughter),â€� said Mickelson, who birdied five of his first six holes Friday to jump into the lead. “And they should be, you know, rightfully so, because in time, I will mess up. It’s just my — I always kind of ride the line somewhere. Sometimes I cross it. Sometimes not.â€� On a more serious note, Mickelson is buckling down as he tries to atone for missing the TOUR Championship at East Lake last year. Things were looking good just six months ago. When he picked up his 43rd PGA TOUR win at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship in early March, it broke a nearly five-year drought and portended a big season. Or not. Mickelson finished T5 at the Wells Fargo Championship, but otherwise hasn’t really contended. He hit a moving ball at the U.S. Open, finished T24 at The Open Championship, and missed the cut at the PGA Championship. He’s 11th in the FedExCup, and has made more news with his newly announced made-for-TV match against Tiger Woods than with his play. Now, though, Mickelson seems to be on the comeback trail, again, at age 48. A day after he hit just three fairways but saved himself with his putting, he hit nine of the first 10 in the second round. Only a few late misses marred his effort, but he was encouraged. He badly wants to be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team that will try to be the first to win on European soil since 1993, but first he has to prove worthy of a pick from U.S. Captain Jim Furyk. “Yeah, it’s important,â€� said Mickelson, who has been on every U.S. Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup team since 1994, “because this started out to be a great year, and I want to finish it off right. And usually when I have a bit of a lull in the summer, I play well in the Playoffs. So I expect to have a good first two events and try to make it really easy for Captain Furyk.â€� In the process, he’s hoping to knock off one more thing on his to-do list: Finish the season ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting. He got off to a good start at Ridgewood this week, making over 110 feet of putts in the first round, but knows he’s still got work to do. “I’ve been No. 2 in strokes gained behind Jason Day all year,â€� Mickelson said. “So either I’m going to have a phenomenal putting stretch and get to No. 1, or I’m just going to bend his putter a little bit so he comes back, because it’s been a great putting year.â€� OBSERVATIONS O’HAIR WINNING MIND GAME … Sean O’Hair says he doesn’t really set goals. He says making his way through the FedExCup isn’t the be all and end all. He says being a member at Aronimink in Philadelphia – where the third FedExCup Playoff event, the BMW Championship, will be held Sept. 6-9 – doesn’t burden him with pressure. Nope. Sean O’Hair is just happy to be here after a tough last few months. Believe him or not, but O’Hair has played inspired golf over the opening two rounds of THE NORTHERN TRUST. He backed up his opening 66 with a 2-under 69 to move to 7 under, good enough for the clubhouse lead after the morning wave. “I’m not really much of a goal setter,â€� said O’Hair, who at 121st in the FedExCup likely needs a top-30 or better here to survive to the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. “It’s always a bonus to get in the TOUR Championship and it’s always a nice way to end the year. “I think every week is just an opportunity,â€� he added. “Every day is an opportunity. And for guys like me, every day is, you know, kind of a do-or-die situation. I actually think that just takes the pressure off. You win one of these events, and all of a sudden, thing change, and if you get in the TOUR Championship and win the TOUR Championship, you have a good chance of winning the FedExCup.â€� While the scoreboards are constantly flashing projections, O’Hair said he is taking no notice. The four-time TOUR winner is just grateful to be in New Jersey and not at the Web.com Finals in Ohio. “The last thing for me that’s going to help me is thinking about what I need to do to get to Aronimink or get to TOUR Championship,â€� he said. “I feel like the last two days have kind of happened because I’m working on the right things, and I’m focused more on maybe the process of the game right now than the actual score and result of it. “This is the end of my 14th season out here, so I’ve done this enough to know that if I go out there trying to get results, whether it be finishing a certain position on FedExCup or win a golf tournament or shoot a score; that just doesn’t work for me. That’s not how I function.â€�

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – When Phil Mickelson arrived at the 13th hole, it was hard to believe his week could get any worse. He was 10 over par after four consecutive bogeys that ended any chance of a Saturday charge at Shinnecock Hills. Then Mickelson committed a shocking act that produced another unforgettable moment in a U.S. Open career defined by disappointment. After taking four shots to reach the green, his 19-foot putt looked like it was about to roll off the front of the putting surface. Mickelson jogged after his ball and hit it while it was still in motion. Mickelson incurred a two-shot penalty under Rule 14-5, which states that a player must not make a stroke at a ball that is moving. He then two-putted for a sextuple-bogey 10. He seemed surprised by the backlash to his actions, insisting that he was simply using the rules to his advantage. “I don’t mean to disrespect anybody. I know it’s a two-shot penalty,� Mickelson said. “At that time, I just didn’t feel like going back and forth and hitting the same shot over. I took the two-shot penalty and moved on. It’s my understanding of the rules. I’ve had multiple times where I’ve wanted to do that. I just finally did.� Mickelson, who celebrated his 48th birthday on Saturday, signed for an 81 that left him at 17-over 227 (77-69-81). He had played Friday’s final 15 holes in 3 under just to make the cut and keep his slim chances of winning his first U.S. Open alive. Mickelson, 48, needs to win his national championship to complete the career Grand Slam. He has a record six runners-up in the event. The 81 matched Mickelson’s highest round at the U.S. Open. He shot a second-round 81 to miss the cut in his pro debut in 1992 at Pebble Beach. John Daly committed a similar infraction in the 1999 U.S. Open. He whacked a ball out of frustration as it was rolling off of one of Pinehurst’s crowned greens. Mickelson said that wasn’t his motive, though. “I don’t feel like it was frustration that crept over,� Mickelson said. “I had fun. (Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston) and I had a great time today. People here have been tremendous. They have made my birthday very special and I’m very appreciative of that. … I just took two shots and moved on because I didn’t want to keep hitting it back and forth. That’s all there is to it.� Johnston, who shot 82 Saturday while playing alongside Mickelson, called Mickelson’s move “one of the mad moments.� “We were both obviously really struggling,� Johnston said. “It was funny because I didn’t think he hit that bad of a chip shot from behind the green in the first place. And as it released and went through, I thought, ‘Wow, that is seriously quick.’ “It wasn’t a (way) of saying, ‘I’ve had enough’ or this and that. It just happened. I said, ‘That’s one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen,’ and then just started laughing, to be honest.� Some insisted that Mickelson’s actions were against the spirit of the law and could be considered a “major breach� of the Rules of Golf, which result in disqualification.  Rule 1-2, titled “Exerting Influence on Movement of Ball or Altering Physical Conditions,� states, “A player must not (i) take an action with the intent to influence the movement of a ball in play or (ii) alter physical conditions with the intent of affecting the playing of a hole.� John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships and governance, said the tournament’s rules committee quickly convened and unanimously determined that Mickelson’s actions did not fit under that category. “He didn’t deflect it or stop it. He played a moving ball,� Bodenhamer said. “He made a stroke at a moving ball, which is explicitly covered under 14-5. So it’s not necessary to move on to (Rule) 1-2. It’s covered under 14-5.�

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