Cameron Smith lashes out at "painful" slow play from Phil Mickelson in Miami

Cameron Smith appeared a little bit displeased with Phil Mickelson's pace of play during their match at LIV Golf's $50m team championship in Miami.

Ben Smith

29 Oct 2022

Cameron Smith lashes out at "painful" slow play from Phil Mickelson in Miami — Cameron Smith lashes out at "painful" slow play from Phil Mickelson in…

Cameron Smith could have been forgiven for thinking Phil Mickelson didn't get the LIV Golf Tour memo.

Afterall, much of the chatter about this series has been how it is golf, but louder! Golf, but faster! Shotgun starts! 54 holes!

Mickelson, it appears, was a bit slow during their singles match in Miami on Friday during LIV's $50m team championship.

Of course, Mickelson - who this week reacted to Rory McIlroy's comments - was just employing a bit of gamesmanship.

Smith and Mickelson played a good match.

In the end, it was Smith who prevailed when he sunk a birdie putt from seven feet on the final hole at Trump National Doral to help his Punch GC side progress to the semi-finals and knock out Lefty's Hy Flyers.

Said Smith of their match:

"We both struck the ball good. I probably didn't hole as many putts as I'd like, but I was able to get the job done there on the last hole.

"Yeah, it was a good match. I think Phil maybe had some gamesmanship in there a little bit. He seemed to take forever today. I think we were three or four holes behind, so that was a bit painful. But other than that, it was good."

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Mickelson rued missed chances on the back nine.

He said:

"I've been playing pretty good and felt like my game could match up and for the most part we played okay. But we both shot a few under par but not enough to — I felt I needed to shoot 66 or 67 to win this match and didn't birdie any last seven holes, and that kind of hurt.

"I don't understand how I missed the fairway [on 18] and that really hurt because I didn't have a chance to get after the green and make an easy four and a chance at eagle. I had a lie that I had to be a little careful with, make sure I missed it right and try to make my four that way. It's tough to do against somebody as good as Cameron."

Mickelson will be all too familiar with the tricks of the trade.

In his heyday when he was paired with Tiger Woods in PGA Tour events and major championships, the big cat would always deliberately do four things to put him off his stride.

Mickelson just didn't even know it, according to Butch Harmon, who worked with both players.

They were:

Woods always tried to putt-out first so the crowd would be moving to the next tee while Mickelson was putting.
He would linger behind the green and let Phil walk up to the tee box first, so when Tiger arrived, his playing partner would have to listen to the roar.
On holes when he [Mickelson] was between 3-wood or driver, Woods would choose less club so he could fart around in the fairway and make Mickelson watch him hit what would inevitably be a laser-like approach.
If Phil was amped up and moving fast, Tiger would slow his walk and pace of play; if Mickelson had a more leisurely vibe, Woods sped up his gait and routine. Either way, the goal was to try to upset his adversary's rhythm.

Unfortunately for Mickelson, his slow play tactic didn't work out against Smith.

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