Mickleson magic lights up Scottish Open

There are days when Phil Mickelson bumbles round a course with all the febrile urgency of Ermintrude the Cow looking for a nice patch of grass to chew on. But then, there are days when he gets the scent of blood in his nostrils and rips a course to shreds. Friday at Castle Stuart was definitely one of the latter. Mickelson, who had interrupted his family holiday in Rome to come here, had started the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on Thursday with a ho-hum round of 73 that must have had him pining for the piazzas as he sat in the players’ lounge afterwards. Something was certainly firing him up when he started his second round. At the par-four tenth hole, his first, he struck a drive down the middle then spun his lob-wedge second shot into the cup for an eagle. Such feats command attention, and the 42-year-old American went on to have one of those Pied Piper days, his gallery growing steadily as he made his way round the course. His admirers were rewarded at the turn, as Mickelson threw in five birdies in the space of six holes to propel himself into contention. He signed off with a 64, a total that would have matched the course record just two days earlier, and which undoubtedly had the front-runners looking anxiously in their rear-view mirrors. That, in itself, is some achievement. Time was when the coastal defences of British links courses would befuddle Mickelson, whose stratospheric ball flight was hopelessly ill-suited to the seaside game. Little by little, though, he has lowered his trajectory, raising his chances of success at golf’s most traditional form in the process. Last year, he finished second at The Open at Royal St George’s, and he has designs on going one better at Lytham next week. “My mindset has really evolved over the last decade as I’ve learned to get the ball on the ground quickly,” he said. “That’s made playing in bad weather easier. I’ve really enjoyed learning a few shots off the tee.” One he has yet to master, though, is the shot played by Ricardo Gonzalez at the par-four seventh. The Argentine not only landed his drive in a spectator’s carrier bag, but, with extraordinary precision, he managed to get his ball into an opened packet of salt and vinegar crisps, that were still within it. Gonzalez marked the spot, took a drop and played on, fortified by the mouthful of crisps that the spectator, rather generously, in the circumstances, offered him. Gonzalez subsequently matched Mickelson’s 64, a score that left him five shots off the lead jointly held by Francesco Molinari and Alex Noren, who shot 71 and 66 respectively. Matteo Manassero also made a huge move with a 64 to move alongside Gonzalez at 11 under. Potentially, there is on Open slot up for grabs here, and Gonzalez, Noren and Manassero are now all in the running to take it. Mickelson aside, perhaps the most significant move was made by Luke Donald, the world No 1 and reigning Scottish Open champion, whose flawless 68 took him just three shots behind the front-runners.