Phil Mickelson told his critics to "toughen up" after admitting he deliberately hit a moving ball to gain an advantage in the third round of the US Open.
Mickelson, who was already four over par for the day on his 48th birthday, badly overhit a putt on the 13th green which looked in danger of rolling off the putting surface.
The five-time major winner prevented that from happening by running after the ball and hitting it while it was still rolling, a breach of rule 14-5 which incurs a two-shot penalty.
Former US PGA champion Steve Elkington called for Mickelson to be disqualified, writing on Twitter: "Absolutely 100% conduct unbecoming ... hes trying to embarrass the @USGA DQ his ass."
And LPGA player Christina Kim wrote on Twitter: "I have never done anything so ghastly. I'm curious to know what sort of "logic" caused him to do that. I'm in shock."
However, Mickelson, who eventually made a 10 on the 13th in a round of 81 which equalled his highest score in the US Open, said: "If someone is offended I apologise, but toughen up.
"Knowing the rules is never a bad thing. You always want to use them in your favour. I know the rules and the ball was going to go off in a bad spot. I did not feel like continuing going back and forth. I would still be out there potentially.
"I've wanted to do it many times before and finally did. I should have done it a couple of times on 15 at Augusta. That would have saved me a shot or two back then."
Mickelson and playing partner Andrew Johnston were laughing about the incident as they walked off the green and Mickelson added: "How can you not laugh? It's funny. I just wanted to get to the next hole and did not see that happening without the two shots."
Commentating on the incident for Fox, former Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger said: "That's the most out of character I have ever seen Phil. I think he just snapped. I'm sure he is going to regret that."
And two-time US Open champion Curtis Strange added: "He will feel some embarrassment because there are a lot of people and kids watching that really admire this guy."
The incident overshadowed the early stages of the third round by the leading players, with Dustin Johnson seeing his four-shot lead cut to a single stroke.
Johnson, who was an odds-on favourite to become only the second player after Tiger Woods to win while ranked world number one, suffered his first double bogey of the week on the second and dropped another shot on the fourth.
That allowed Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson to close the gap thanks to birdies on the third and fifth respectively.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel