Phil Mickelson's 7-over round cuts weekend short
5:49 PM ET
- ESPN.com news services
Phil Mickelson finally made some birdies at The Open. It didn't keep him at Royal Birkdale this weekend, though.
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Jason Day had the weather to thank for keeping him around at Royal Birkdale this weekend, while a Poulter-Daly rivalry moved on to the next generation, and Mark O'Meara called it quits in style — a gentleman's halve against the course he won on in 1998.
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The 2013 champion shot a 7-over 77 in gusty conditions in the second round and was 10 over for the tournament, putting him way off the cut at 5 over.
"I was surprised because I really thought — I thought Thursday I was prepared," Mickelson said. "I felt like I was ready. I thought I had a good game plan. I thought my game was sharp. But obviously it wasn't.
"I've got this week off, and I'll see if I can get it sharp for Akron [the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational] and the PGA [Championship].''
Mickelson failed to make a birdie Thursday, the first time that has happened in a major in five years. He did so on the first hole in his second round and had four birdies in total, but he had eight bogeys and a triple-bogey 7 at No. 3.
He said skipping last week's Scottish Open played a role in his struggles at Royal Birkdale.
"I didn't adjust quickly to how far the ball was going. I didn't adjust to the ground, how far the ball was running," said Mickelson, who had played the Scottish Open each year since 2012. "The shorter pins are deceptive to your eye. They look further away, and they take some getting used to. … This further proves that when I don't play the week before a major, I oftentimes am not as sharp and ready to play as I need to be.''
This marks Mickelson's first missed cut since the Deutsche Bank Championship in September, ending a run of 18 straight made cuts — the longest active streak on the PGA Tour.
The 47-year-old Mickelson hasn't won a tournament since lifting the Claret Jug at Muirfield in 2013.
Mark O'Meara played his 110th and possibly final round of The Open on Friday, finishing with a bogey on No. 18 to shoot even-par 70.
O'Meara couldn't make up for an 81 on Thursday. The 1998 Open champion has an exemption for the tournament as long as he is 60 or younger. O'Meara turned 60 in January.
"I knew the conditions were going to be tough out there today," said O'Meara, who first played the Open in 1981. "I just wanted to play respectable."
Chris Wood and Ryan Moore graciously waited back in the fairway so O'Meara could soak up the applause one last time. O'Meara then turned and waved up Wood, who had holed out from the fairway for an eagle 2, to receive his own applause.
Justin Thomas was 2 shots out of the lead after Thursday, but his tournament is over after a 10-over 80 second round. That was his worst round in a major and the second-worst round of his PGA Tour career, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Former Open champion Padraig Harrington was cut when he barely missed holing a chip on the final hole.
"It looked like it was going in all right," he said. "The story of my day."
ESPN's Bob Harig and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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