Phil Mickelson impressed with fair Oakmont test despite missing US Open cut
Last Updated: 18/06/16 7:19pm
Phil Mickelson was full of praise for the Oakmont set-up despite a two-round total of seven-over par seeing him miss the US Open cut.
Oakmont leaderboard
The five-time major champion followed his opening round of 74 with a 73 that left him two shots off the cut mark of +5 at the end of the delayed second round.
Famously the only major missing from Mickelson's collection is the US Open and despite sitting well adrift of the leaders he has no complaints with the course as he wait goes on for another year.
Having finished earlier in the day, Mickelson spoke to the press with every expectation that he would be playing the final rounds, but it was not be.
"It was a challenging day, but I think it's a real tribute to the course, the set-up and the US Open challenge of how you have a discrepancy in the scores, where there were holes you could make birdie, and you saw guys shoot under par," said Mickelson.
"I felt like it was a very fair set-up. If you played well, there were pins you could get to. You could make some birdies. There were some very challenging pars.
"I actually thought I played really well, except I let four or five par putts kind of slide, and all of a sudden I'd be two-over and right in it. You can't do that here because you don't have those birdie opportunities to offset those mistakes.
"I didn't have very many birdie opportunities. My irons were don't feel bad, but they're just a fraction off. Instead of hitting it 15 feet, giving myself chances, I'm 30 feet, 40 feet, and fighting just to make par.
"Hopefully, I'll make the cut. I believe that I will. If so and I have an opportunity, you just never know on this golf course.
"We've seen low scores. I don't feel like I have to search for anything on the range. I feel like my game is there, but my scoring hasn't been what I want the first two days.
"I didn't score the way I would have liked to, but I enjoyed the challenge. It's a fun opportunity to really test yourself when a course is set up like this that will reward good shots and penalise poorly struck ones."
Meanwhile Henrik Stenson revealed that neck and knee injuries were behind his withdrawal with two holes remaining of his second round.
Having started the his second round at one-under par and very much in the hunt, the Swede's round unravelled with eight bogies and a double bogey before he called it a day.
With no official reason was given for his withdrawal, Stenson took to Twitter to reveal the reason behind his early finish: "Minor neck and knee issues, nothing Major! Hope to be back in action next week! H."
