SOUTHPORT, England — Royal Birkdale's flat, but narrow fairways have long taken drivers out of the hands of the world's best golfers. When Johnny Miller won here in 1976 he used 1-iron off 12 of the 14 non-par 3s. And earlier this week, Rory McIlroy — arguably the best driver in today's game — said he doesn't plan to hit his best club until the 13th hole of each round.
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But it looks like Phil Mickelson will take that conservative strategy to the next level. The five-time major champ doesn't think he'll hit any drivers all week. And he certainly won't be able to if he sticks to this plan.
https://twitter.com/WillGrayGC/status/887289072921657345
Considering the course and which player we're talking about, Tuesday's equipment buzz at Royal Birkdale isn't all that surprising. We've seen Phil Mickelson completely take the driver out of his bag for majors before (Remember that..

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A year ago, when I made my crazy prediction for the winner of the 145th Open Championship, I emphasized that the recent trend among those honored as “the champion golfer of the year” was experience. Or what we in the working trade like to call “age.”
Fitting, seeing as we are after all talking about the man who prevails in golf’s oldest major being the sort of chap who’s seen the mercurial panoply of golf’s rich tableau. Which is what Open Championship fans know as “Friday.”
It was against that weathered backdrop that I chose a resolute veteran, an accomplished winner who had known the depths of defeat and self-doubt and risen to golf’s heights with the fortitude only poets and kings know. Or what today most Americans see as “a Gatorade commercial.”
So it was with that sense of Churchillian “Keep Calm and Carry On” that I bravely suggested an Englishman would win the Open Championship, the proud, earnest, resilient Justin Rose.
Rose, of course, did not win.
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