Phil Mickelson just made an alarming admission about one of the members of his LIV Golf team: himself. The golfer was self-effacing in his interview ahead of the LIV Golf Dallas team championship, which pits his team against Torque GC in the first round.
A golf reporter asked about the matchups in this event. Joaquin Niemann will face Andy Ogletree. The second singles match sees Sebastian Muñoz take on Cameron Tringale, and finally, Mito Pereira and Carlos Ortiz will be up against Mickelson and Brendan Steele.
Mickelson’s placement means the HyFlyers are the first team to not have the captain play in the singles portion. The LIV star was asked and gave his answer as to the thought process via ASAP Sports:
“Andy Ogletree won the ’21 Amateur. He’s a very tough match play competitor. Cam Tringale won all his matches last year. I wanted them both in singles. Steeley and I are really annoying to play against. I’m annoying, but when you put me and Steeley, it goes to another level, and I feel like that could be a challenge just dealing with that.”
Mickelson has been upfront in the past about his own limitations as a player, and he believes that Tringale and Ogletree are better fits for the singles matches than he would be.
Phil Mickelson opens up on venue ahead of LIV team championship
Phil Mickelson was also asked about the chosen venue. He said that Bolingbrook in Chicago is a high-risk-reward course and the greens have some severity, where things can get difficult if players take risks that don’t pan out. Because of this, Mickelson believes there will be more birdies and bogeys than a typical event.
Phil Mickelson addressed the course at Bolingbrook (Source: Imagn)
He also said that the wind is going to be a factor and that crosswinds affect a lot of the different holes. Instead of being straightforward, he felt that they could present a huge challenge and that player aggression and their willingness to try it in the wind would determine the end results.
He said (via the aforementioned source):
“I think it leads to more aggressive play. I think we’ll see a lot of big numbers, but in match play only losing the hole, it’s allowing for — it’s allowing for that aggressive play and should be exciting for match play.”
Mickelson compared it to stroke play, adding that a golf course like Bolingbrook demands conservative tendencies in stroke play. The penalties for missing far outweigh the possible benefits of risk-taking for stroke play.
“There’s really big misses, big penalties for misses, and in match play you can take that on and be more aggressive. I think it’s going to kind of showcase what match play is all about.”
Time will tell if Phil Mickelson’s ideas are going to play out well for himself and his team in the LIV team championship.
