Phil Mickelson Scores an 11, Makes Ernie Els’ 9 Look Like an Eagle

Phil Mickelson scored an 11 at Pebble Beach this weekend, causing him to miss the cut.  Oh yeah, he was also the defending champion of this tournament.  This 11 makes the 9 that Ernie Els dropped last week look like an eagle.

Ouch.  That’s a sextuple bogey.  And it's got to hurt.  I wouldn’t know, because it’s been ages since I scored an 11 on any one hole.  Seriously. 

To be fair, I do sometimes pick up my ball after eight or nine strokes just to avoid the 11 on my scorecard.  That’s the difference between Phil and me.  Well, that and the fact that he’s left-handed.  And about 80 pounds heavier than I am.  

Do you remember that Kevin Costner movie, Tin Cup?  In the final hole of a big PGA tournament, Costner’s character stubbornly goes for the green in two and ends up in the water.  He persistently drops balls from the same spot (instead of dropping up by the green) and tries again, always ending up in the water.  Again, and again, and again.

Yeah, even in that situation—taking a penalty stroke for each drop—the guy still scores a 12. 

Mickelson scored an 11, and he was just playing the hole normally.  Here’s a synopsis of his play on that hole, from the article "Mickelson's 11 on 1 hole leads to exit" by AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson:

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"Mickelson tried to cut the corner on the 585-yard     14th by playing right of the bunker at the dogleg.  From a decent lie in the rough, he decided to hit a hybrid to just short of the green, which would leave him a pitch shot with his 64-degree wedge.

"But the hybrid didn’t work out—twice.

"'It ended up shooting right on me and went out of bounds,' Mickelson said. 'And then I did it again.'"

"He finally opted to hit 5-iron to the fairway for his sixth shot, then his wedge spun off the green, down the slope and into a muddy, sloppy lie under a tree. His eighth shot made it halfway up the hill, he chipped that on to 15 feet and two-putted for an 11."

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Geez, Phil…even John Daly thinks you imploded. 

Again, I have to celebrate this horrible score by Mickelson.  It humanizes this pro, and gives me hope.  If Phil made this 11, surely one day I'll make a 1 or 2, right?