Less than a month after winning the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson is in danger of missing the cut at the U.S. Open for the second-consecutive year.
"Lefty" shot a 4-over par 75 in the first round at Torrey Pines, California, on Thursday, as he finished eight shots adrift of the co-leaders Russell Henley and Louis Oosthuizen.
Mickelson, who turned 51 on Wednesday, became the oldest player to win a major as he triumphed at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island in May, but he endured an opening round to forget, making just one birdie.
His first round was blighted by a bizarre problem, with Mickelson complaining at least three times of being distracted by spectators who hadn't switched their cell phone cameras off.
"It's part of professional golf," Mickelson told ESPN.
"You have to learn to deal with it. I don't understand why you just can't turn that little button on the side into silent. I probably didn't deal with it internally as well as I could have or as well as I need to. It's part of playing the game out here at this level. Certainly I didn't do the best job of dealing with it."
With the top 60 players and ties on the leaderboard after 36 holes qualifying for the final two rounds, the six-time major winner has his work cut out, but he remains optimistic.
"I'm hitting enough fairways to give myself chances, and I'm optimistic that I'll put together a good round [Friday]," he added.
Here's all you need to know about the second round.
What it is the U.S. Open cut rule?
As mentioned above, the top 60 players and ties after the first two rounds progress to play on the weekend. The U.S. Open is the second-strictest of the four majors in that respect.
Only the top 50 players plus ties progress to the final two rounds at The Masters, while the top 70 players and ties qualify for the final stages at the PGA Championship and The British Open.
What is the projected cut at the 2021 U.S. Open?
The cut line is projected to be 1-over par, with 96 players currently on track to miss the cut at the of the end of the second round. Effectively that means that the 156-player field will be halved before the weekend.
Which players could miss the cut at the 2021 U.S. Open?
Mickelson isn't the only big name at risk of missing out. Bryson DeChambeau, the defending champion, and Justin Thomas, the world No. 2, both finished the opening round 2-over par, but retain a chance of making the cut.
Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland and Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, all shot a 3-over par 74.
Like Mickelson, Collin Morikawa, last year's PGA Championship winner, also finished the opening round at 4-over par, as did Will Zalatoris, who finished second at The Masters in April in his first appearance at Augusta National, Georgia.
Henrik Stenson, the British Open winner in 2016, is one of 19 players sitting at 5-over par, while three-time major winner Jordan Spieth fared even worse, carding a 6-over par 77 in the opening round.
The Texan made just one birdie and his final nine holes—the front nine of Torrey Pines as he started from tee No. 10—included a double bogey at the sixth and a bogey on the ninth.
Webb Simpson, the winner of the 2012 U.S. Open, meanwhile sank without trace after shooting an 8-over par 79.
