After Rory McIlroy said last week that he likely wouldn't hit driver at Royal Birkdale until the 13th hole on the course during this year's Open Championship, I expected a few others to follow suit. What I didn't expect is for somebody to play without a driver altogether.
Phil Mickelson plans to play this year's Open without a driver but with two 3-irons and a 64-degree wedge because, well, this is Phil Mickelson and -- now that caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay is gone -- nobody can stop him. He is also apparently going back to the 3-wood that won him the 2013 Open.
This is not the first time Mickelson has done something crazy in relation to his driver. He's often experimented with two drivers in the bag, most famously at the Masters a decade ago.
Equipment overhaul for Phil this week: current plan is no driver, but adding a "hot" 3-wood, a second "driving" 3-iron and 64 degree wedge.
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) July 18, 2017
Word is Phil Mickelson will remove driver and replace it with 13-degree Callaway X Hot 3Deep -- same club he used during '13 @TheOpen win.
— Jonathan Wall (@jonathanrwall) July 18, 2017
Nothing is final yet, and Mickelson could certainly put his driver back in the bag or play with 14 wedges. Who knows? But it seems like he is resigned to play without one.
"We won't be playing [driver] in this wind," Mickelson told the Associated Press. "And when we get the normal wind, there really isn't a driver for me until we get to 15. And then that brings the bunkers into play."
"I've been really working on hitting that 3-iron head-high, and getting it down quick," he told Golf Channel. "It's been something I've been working on the last couple weeks, and that shot's not going to be affected by weather."
Mickelson has finished in the top two at this event in two of the last four years including that famous win at Muirfield in 2013 (which is his last on the PGA Tour).
