DUBLIN, Ohio — Phil Mickelson is carrying two drivers in his bag at the Memorial Tournament this week — but probably not for the reasons you think.
In a video posted to Twitter before his opening round at Muirfield Village Golf Club on Thursday, Mickelson explained why he’s carrying two drivers for the first time in a long time.
“Well, I saw a post of Bubba Watson hitting bombs without a shirt on and he had bear chest hair,” Mickelson said. “Not b-a-r-e chest hair. I mean grizzly b-e-a-r chest hair. And I thought if I have to have that to hit bombs, I don’t want to hit bombs. So I have a shorter driver, which I can [use to] hit cute little cuts into the fairway.
“But then I realized that when I was not hitting bombs, my confidence was low, my self-esteem was low. Oftentimes, I wouldn’t want to get out of bed. And so when I started hitting bombs, my confidence shot back up. My testosterone was back, my overall attractiveness increased. And so I’m going to have a driver to hit cute cuts in the fairway and one to hit bombs.”
With the #USOpen coming up, it can’t be all about hitting bombs. pic.twitter.com/jwImeqeg4D
— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) May 30, 2019
The change comes two weeks before the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where Mickelson won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February. He has never won the U.S. Open, his last leg needed to complete the career grand slam, and has finished second six times.
Driving distance hasn’t been Mickelson’s problem — he is tied for 21st with a 306.9-yard average. He ranks 207th among PGA Tour players in driving accuracy, hitting only 49.5 percent of fairways going into the Memorial.