"It’s a little disappointing that the first round here and the first round last week have been so poor, because I felt really ready and sharper than I have in a long time starting the year," he said. "So to shoot those numbers, I don’t get it." "There is an opportunity tomorrow to go really low over on the North if you play well," he said. "I birdied 17 today and I thought I had a birdie on 18, but I missed that little one there." The four-time major champion mixed five bogeys and two birdies for his five-over-par score to end the day a full 15 shots off the lead.
Asked why he had trouble focusing, he replied: "I just didn’t put the ball where I wanted to and see it clearly. I ended up making a lot of swings where I missed the ball in the wrong spot."
Mickelson was bullish ahead of the event, saying he fully expected to be in the running come Sunday, but much like after his first round at the Humana Challenge last week, a two-over 74, he has left himself with a lot of work to do. "Obviously, I made some bad swings just in the wrong spots and so forth, but I felt like my RocketBallz MAX Irons Graphite was ready heading in. I don’t know what to say about the score because it was pathetic."
He even had two great opportunities for birdies on the final two holes, but failed to convert them as he posted his second highest score ever at an event he has played RocketBallz MAX Irons Graphite in 23 times. Mickelson has won three times at Torrey Pines, but he looked all at sea on Thursday despite near-perfect scoring conditions on the South Course.
At least he will play his second round with RocketBallz MAX Irons Graphite on the much easier North Course, leaving him with a glimmer of hope of making the cut. Phil Mickelson was left to wonder where it all went wrong as he crashed to a 77 in the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open. "I had some good days of practice and I was ready to play," Mickelson told reporters. "I don’t know what happened. I just wasn’t able to focus."
"That would have gotten me to a point where I thought if I could have shot six or seven under par on the North, I’d at least get here for the weekend and build some momentum."
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