Mickelson caps poor showing at Singapore Open

2007-11-04

Share this article:  Digg |  StumbleUpon |  del.icio.us |  Reddit

By Colin Pereira Special to PA SportsTicker

SINGAPORE (Ticker) - Phil Mickelson's health was much improved Sunday but he still struggled, playing by far his worst round at the Barclays Singapore Open.

An exhausted Mickelson was unable to meet up with fans or the media Saturday, needing to see a doctor after being overcome by the hot and humid conditions during his 2-over-par 73 at Sentosa Golf Club.

"I've been losing my voice a little with the ash from the fire in California and I kept expecting it go away and it just never did," explained the world No. 2. "The night before last, I was up all night struggling and so I had some great help from the doctors here and I felt much better today after some antibiotics."

While he was well enough to speak to the press after his round Sunday, the American was far from happy with his game after closing the tournament with a 79 to finish at 8-over 292, 16 strokes behind champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina.

"Today, I wasn't striking the ball as well as I wanted to off the tee," Mickelson said. "I had penalty shots off the tee where I had to re-hit and that's been a big difference.

"I've been working on my game and I'm really disappointed that I didn't play the best this week. I've got one more shot next week (at the HSBC Champions) in Shanghai but this week is definitely not how I wanted to go."

Despite his poor form on the course, Mickelson promised that he would return for another crack at the Serapong Course.

"I loved it here. I had a great week and I'm definitely going to come back in the next year or two, I don't know if it's 2008 or 2009, but I'm definitely going to come back," he said. "My family had a great time. I wanted to, obviously, play better. I love the golf course. I love how challenging it is and I'm looking forward to getting another shot at the Serapong Course here in Sentosa.

"It's tough to get the ball close to the hole because they are not stopping on the greens too well. The fairways are very tough and the rough is up and so I think it's a very good test because it tests every element of your game. I probably wasn't expecting the course to be as difficult as it is but I was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately the golf course exposed the mis-hits even more. I thought that it was a world class layout and it tested the best players in the world."