Jordan Spieth On Mickelson Incident: "I Laughed"

The Texan saw the funny side of Mickelson's moving ball debacle and didn't see the harm in it

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The Texan saw the funny side of Mickelson's moving ball debacle and didn't see the harm in it

Jordan Spieth On Mickelson Incident: "I Laughed"

Jordan Spieth missed the cut at the US Open last week and didn't watch Saturday's action at Shinnecock including Phil Mickelson's crazy moving ball moment.

However, he, like the entire sporting world, has now seen it and was speaking on the incident during his pre-tournament press conference at this week's Travelers Championship, where he is defending champion.

The world number five holed out from a bunker to win the Travelers last year in one the best shots of 2017.

Spieth saw the funny side in what Mickelson did on the 13th hole on Saturday.

"I laughed, I thought it was really funny," he said on Mickelson.

"Phil knows the rules.

"There was a chance it was going to go back behind the bunker and he's got to chip back, or he was going to play off the green anyways, so he was potentially saving himself a shot."

Spieth played with Mickelson in the first two rounds at Shinnecock. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Whilst there has been uproar about Mickelson's rules infringement, Spieth doesn't think it is a big issue.

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"So if that was the intent, then what's the harm in that? He's playing the best score he can."

The 2015 champion missed a short putt on the final hole to miss the cut by a stroke to be +9 after two rounds.

Tony Finau and Daniel Berger were +7 after 36 holes and 66s on Saturday morning put them in the final group.

Spieth thinks he could have done something similar.

"When I saw the scores, I was even more frustrated at my finish, because going out early Saturday and you shoot something under par, say three-, four-under, and I would have been in the last couple groups and had a chance to win the US Open," he said.

"That was a bummer for sure."

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Elliott Heath
News Editor

Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV