It was a cruel, cruel summer in England for Phil Mickelson, who covets a British Open title almost as much as he covets a U.S. Open title. But Mickelson never seemed comfortable on the Royal Lytham and St Annes track this week and blew up for a 78 today, including a stretch of two double bogeys and a bogey on the back nine when he should have been making a move. That left Lefty at 11 over par for the week and likely on a plane home by noon today.
The scoring has not been good today on a wet Lytham track, but don’t tell that the Brandt Snedeker. Snedeker, who has never made the cut in a British Open, is 6 under for the day with the average score hovering around 3 over for the round. Snedeker is 10 under for the tournament through 16 holes today and has a four shot lead over Zach Johnson, who is just two holes into his round.
Other players were not so fortunate this day. Rory McIlory followed a 67 with a 75, while Nicolas Colsaerts followed his 65 Thursday with a 77 today.
Tiger Woods is just teeing off, and he has to figure a round of 70 or 69 would be perfect to set him up for a weekend charge at the title.