Phil Mickelson never misses an opportunity to surprise everyone. Be it his recovery shots out of the trees, flop shots around the greens, or winning a major championship at the age of 50. And in the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational Round 1, he surprised everyone with an arm-lock putting method.  

Phil Mickelson, who putted so well during his PGA Championship victory earlier this year at Kiawah Island, switched techniques and came up with a new putting grip on Thursday. Moreover, it was surprising to see this sudden change, because lefty has hardly changed his grip and putting technique in his long-spanning career. 

“You have to take risks,” says Mickelson

“When you’re trying to get better, you have to take risks,” Mickelson said. “And you have to try it out in the competition,” said Mickelson in the post-round interview. 

Everyone knows that Phil Mickelson is not afraid to take risks, and he once again proved it on Thursday. Moreover, he said that “Just thought I’d try it.” This statement shows his fearlessness. Because taking a new putter in a big event like WGC is not an easy thing. 

However, it looks like he still is in perplexed with his new arm lock putter. “I’m not sold on it,” Mickelson mentioned. “I haven’t tried it long enough to talk about it. And I’m just trying to figure it out, the things I like about it and the things I don’t.” 

Will Phil Mickelson continue to use arm lock putting grip?

And after round one, Mickelson scored 69 and remained one under par – seven shots behind the leader Harris English. Mickelson remained 54th in strokes gained:putting after Round 1. The 51-year-old has five top-10s in nine starts in this tournament, including a tie for second last year, and has tied for 11th and 12th at TPC Southwind. “I picked up the putter this past weekend and played with it a couple of days, and it felt OK.”

However, after round one, Mickelson was on the green for nearly two hours. He was practicing his putting with the new arm lock putting method. But after some time, Phil got his old putter back and did some work with that as well. So it is still not evident which putter or grip he will in round two. 

 Read More – Tee Times for Olympic Women’s Golf: Round 4 Pairings, How to Watch Live, Weather Report and More