CROMWELL, Conn. — Phil Mickelson seized the 36-hole lead after shooting 64-63 on Thursday and Friday, and then had a disappointing weekend with a pair of 71s to finish in a tie for 24th.
After it was over, though, Mickelson insisted he didn’t leave Connecticut demoralized by his failure to seize the opportunity to get his 45th career win. He was trying to become just the eighth player ever to win a PGA Tour event after turning 50.
“I’m looking at this week as progress,’’ said Mickelson, who turned 50 on June 16. “Certainly, the goal is to win golf tournaments, but keep in mind I’ve missed a bunch of cuts [three in a row entering the Travelers]. I haven’t played to the level I’ve wanted to, and this week I came in and had a lot of great finds. I hit a lot of good shots, hit a lot of good tee shots. My misses were much better. … The weekend I didn’t score well. I had a lot of penalty strokes. But it was a good week of progress.’’
Mickelson said he’ll take this coming week off and then play both events at Muirfield Village in Ohio.
“I feel like that golf course, Muirfield Village, is a great course for me, and I feel like this is a good momentum-builder,’’ he said. “There were a lot of good things that happened here that I need to refine, I need to touch up, but I felt like a lot of good things happened this week. The goal is to win, but I also need to identify the fact that I made a lot of progress this week, too.’’
Mickelson hit 32 of 56 fairways for the week, which was tied for 63rd in accuracy. He hit 54 of 72 greens in regulation and took 114 putts.
“I finally feel like I really have some good direction,’’ he said. “This was a good week in a lot of areas, and I’m very optimistic going forward. I don’t think this is a one-off. I think it’s going to be the start of something really special — at least that’s what I’m sensing.’’
Dylan Frittelli, who missed the cut, tested positive for COVID-19. Frittelli is the fourth player to test positive since the PGA Tour returned to action on June 11 and has withdrawn from this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. Nick Watney tested positive last week at the RBC Heritage, while Cameron Champ and Denny McCarthy tested positive this week at the Travelers.
Brendon Todd, the 54-hole leader entered the day having missed only one fairway in the first three rounds. The Travelers Championship record for most fairways hit in the tournament was 53. Todd hit 10 of 14 in the final round to finish 51 of 56.
Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 ranked player in the world was making a late run, getting to 15-under par, before taking double bogey on the 17th hole and finishing tied for 11th.
He characterized his week as “frustrating in a way,” adding, “There’s been some really good stuff in there, but then just some really stupid mistakes. Even [Sunday], I got off to a good start and then bogeyed some easy holes. It’s a little too roller coaster-ish.’’
McIlroy said, “The way I’m feeling right now, I feel like a couple weeks off,’’ but he added he’ll “probably’’ play next at the Memorial.