Golf

Mickelson, McIlroy have different reasons to complain at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The two biggest stars in the Players Championship field left TPC Sawgrass not feeling great about their opening rounds Thursday.

Phil Mickelson shot a 3-over-par 75 and will have to fight to make the cut in Friday’s second round. Rory McIlroy let a potential great round slip away, finishing with a 2-under-par 70 after having it to 5-under through just 11 holes.

“Walking off if you’re not posting something in the 60s after such a good start — especially that run around the turn, birdieing 16, 18, 1, and 2 — it’s a little disappointing,’’ McIlroy said. “I’ll come out [Friday] and try and attack again, because I feel like you can go low on this golf course this week. It’s soft, the greens are receptive, you can see that there is guys going low out there.’’

Mickelson had different problems than McIlroy in that he never got his round jump-started, carding only one birdie and closing with bogeys on three of his final four holes.

This is the deepest into a season Mickelson has gone without a top-10 finish. He’s coming off his best performance of the season, last week’s tie for 11th at the Wells Fargo Championship, but even that was marred by a final-round 76 that cost him a chance at winning the tournament.

After his round Thursday, Mickelson sounded completely bewildered.

“I was playing well and hit a lot of greens, but it was frustrating because I was over par,’’ he said. “There’s a lot of birdies out there. It’s soft. There’s just a lot of birdies out there. And to … yeah, it’s a little disappointing and frustrating.’’

Mickelson was at a loss to explain his struggles.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t feel like any parts of the game are bad, I just have a hard time seeing the ball go in the hole and getting it to go in the hole. I’m going to come out [Friday] and try to play as hard as I can and see how low I can shoot. It’s just not quite clicking right now.’’

McIlroy, who’s spent most of the year on a cusp of playing really well with five top-10 finshes in seven events, lamented having “played really well for the first 11 holes’’ and not closing the round out strong.

“I just let a couple of shots get away from me at the end,’’ he said.

After the fast start, McIlroy, who began his round on the 10th hole, carded bogeys on Nos. 3, 6 and 8 to fall to 2-under.

“A couple little stupid mistakes, but the game was in good shape and if it wasn’t just for that bad stretch of seven holes at the end, it would have been obviously a much different story,’’ he said.

McIlroy defended his decision not to arrive until Wednesday, leaving him with limited practice time on the course.

“I just wanted to spend an extra night in my own bed, to be honest, nothing more than that,’’ he said. “I felt like I was practicing well and playing well and no point getting here too early and making it a long week yourself, so I came up on Wednesday morning, played nine holes Wednesday afternoon and then it was a nice way to just come into the tournament.’’

McIlroy, who missed the cut his first three times at The Players and finished tied for 8th last year, said he feels like he’s “figured this golf course out and I can play it much better than I have been able to in the past.’’

“It doesn’t frustrate me quite as much as it used to,’’ he said.