Phil Mickelson understood Paul Casey’s thinking, but that didn’t mean he was ready to halt his spectacular round.
Mickelson and Casey — the final group at the Pebble Peach Pro-Am — discussed with PGA Tour officials what to do on the 16th green as darkness took over the California course. Mickelson, who has a three-shot lead, wanted to try to play the par-3 17th, then tee off on 18. Casey argued that if they could not finish the round, why bother playing at all in the challenging conditions?
When the horn sounded to call play for the day, Mickelson was seen on the 17th tee shaking his head in frustration.
“You can see Phil is fuming right now,” CBS’ Gary McCord said on the broadcast.
Mickelson was diplomatic afterward.
“I get exactly where Paul’s coming from,” Mickelson told reporters. “It’s dark, and we’re going to have a good chance [Monday] to come out on fresh greens and have them mown. They got pretty rough this afternoon, so I totally get it.
“But I have pretty good vision, I can see fine, and I’m playing well, so I wanted to continue and that’s all there is to it. But I totally get where he’s coming from. And in all honesty, it’s probably a good thing because now we’ll play the last couple holes in pure conditions, and it will be helpful for us both.”
Mickelson was 6-under through 16 holes and had turned a three-shot deficit into a three-shot lead over Casey on Sunday. He remained in cruise control on Monday morning, hitting his tee shot on 17 to eight feet for an easy par and then birdieing the par-5 18th to cruise to the win.
Casey also birdied 18 to finish at 16-under and all alone in second place. In his post-match interview, Mickelson went out of his way to thank Casey for stopping play on Sunday, noting that he protected both players from the less-than-ideal conditions.