Phil, ever thoughtful and courteous...
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Phil, ever thoughtful and courteous...
U.S. OPEN MOMENT: Mike Van Sickle left his first U.S. Open earlier than he wanted, but not without one special moment.
Van Sickle received plenty of attention at Oakmont, not only because he grew up in the Pittsburgh area, but as the son as Sports Illustrated golf writer Gary Van Sickle. He has been grinding on the mini-tours and trying to Monday qualify to make his way.
He made it to the weekend, but only because of the rain delay. It was when he was warming up Saturday morning for his second round that it hit him.
''Some guy puts his Callaway balls way too close to me,'' Van Sickle said. ''I'm like, 'What's going on? I'm going to have to move down.'''
Nope. It was left-handed player - Phil Mickelson.
''Phil is hitting balls next to me and I turn around, and (Jim) Furyk is hitting balls behind me,'' he said. ''And I go to walk off the range and Phil says, 'Hey, Mike.' ... I walk back over and he shakes my hand. He said, 'Hey, I've been following your golf career since you were in college. I just want to wish you the best of luck out there today.'''
''That was by far the coolest moment of the week.''
Van Sickle received plenty of attention at Oakmont, not only because he grew up in the Pittsburgh area, but as the son as Sports Illustrated golf writer Gary Van Sickle. He has been grinding on the mini-tours and trying to Monday qualify to make his way.
He made it to the weekend, but only because of the rain delay. It was when he was warming up Saturday morning for his second round that it hit him.
''Some guy puts his Callaway balls way too close to me,'' Van Sickle said. ''I'm like, 'What's going on? I'm going to have to move down.'''
Nope. It was left-handed player - Phil Mickelson.
''Phil is hitting balls next to me and I turn around, and (Jim) Furyk is hitting balls behind me,'' he said. ''And I go to walk off the range and Phil says, 'Hey, Mike.' ... I walk back over and he shakes my hand. He said, 'Hey, I've been following your golf career since you were in college. I just want to wish you the best of luck out there today.'''
''That was by far the coolest moment of the week.''
bulls9999- Posts : 2741
Join date : 2015-01-14
Location : Oklahoma
Re: Phil, ever thoughtful and courteous...
Great story. Just an example of how little things mean a lot.
j58golf- Posts : 2551
Join date : 2014-10-18
Re: Phil, ever thoughtful and courteous...
It's great that he passed the story on, as well. You are right about the little things. Even a smile sometimes gets a great reaction when we're standing in line or everyone is harried. I think that Phil goes out of his way to encourage younger players. I have always thought that he lacked Tiger's intimidating personality, used toward opponents, rather Phil showed them the ropes. Sometimes I was not onboard with it. LOL
gophil36- Posts : 1049
Join date : 2014-10-17
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