Phil Mickelson has broken his silence following his US Open meltdown last weekend. The 48-year-old was on the 13th hole putting for a bogey and missed the hole by some distance. The American then inexplicably chased after the ball and attempted to putt while it was still moving, accruing a two stroke penalty by doing so.
Phil Mickelson just pulled a Daly - putted a moving golf ball and left Fox announcers speechless pic.twitter.com/5kVxt8AnDq
— Born Salty (@cjzero) June 16, 2018
After his round Mickelson said he decided the two-stroke penalty would be better than allowing the ball to roll off the green and stated that people who were offended by the incident ought to 'toughen up'.
USGA's senior managing director of championships and governance John Bodenhamer stated that the reason Mickelson was not disqualified from the competition was because Mickelson "didn't purposely deflect or stop the ball, which is talked about in the reference under Rule 14-5. He played a moving ball."
However, there were many calling for Mickelson to be disqualified for his actions, with Mickelson's wife Amy claiming that Mickelson had offered to USGA head Mike Davis to disqualify himself from the tournament and today in a text message sent to multiple reporters, Mickelson apologised for the incident, admitting that his apology should have come sooner:
I know this should've come sooner, but it's taken me a few days to calm down. My anger and frustration got the best of me last weekend. I'm embarrassed and disappointed by my actions. It was clearly not my finest moment and I'm sorry.
Mickelson finished the US Open T48 at 16 over par.
