Phil Mickelson Is Practicing ‘Mental Exercises’ to Elongate His Focus on the Golf Course

Published 05/07/2021, 9:30 AM EDT

Phil Mickelson cruised to the lead at the Wells Fargo Championship after Round 1. The 50-year-old surprised fans with a splendid performance amid a tough phase in his career. Mickelson sent out a message with his powerful display and he intends to stay sharp for the remainder of the tournament.

Mickelson achieved his first opening-round lead on the tour in 840 days with a strong performance at Quail Hollow. It was everything that the California native to regain his lost confidence on the tour.

“I love the banter. I think it’s funny and it kept the atmosphere and our group really light. We laughed a bunch, we had some fun things to talk about. But we were laughing even before we teed off,” Mickelson said about his playing partners Joel Dahmen and Lanto Griffin.

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Phil Mickelson credits Quail Hollow for enabling him to play better

The Quail Hollow club always makes any annual list of the toughest golf courses in the United States. The layout is indeed one of the most challenging ones in the country, but experienced players always have the capacity to create an impact.

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Phil Mickelson is playing at the Wells Fargo Championship for the 17th time in his career, and there are probably very few people who’d know the course better than him. Mickelson asserted his authority with a splendid 7-under 64 and later reacted to the effort.

“This course holds my attention. I’ve been doing some mental exercises and so forth just to try to get my focus to elongate over five hours and, and so forth. And that’s been a real struggle for me last few years because physically, there’s nothing physically holding me back from playing at a high level but you cannot make mistakes at this level,” he mentioned.

Mickelson delivered this statement just a few days after he exposed his career struggles. The 44-time PGA Tour winner hasn’t been in the best place mentally, and he’s finding it difficult to keep focus for longer periods of time.

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However, Phil Mickelson stood focused through all of his shots during Round 1 at Wells Fargo Championship. He pulled together all his concentration, made eight birdies, and gained 1.852 strokes while putting.

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Arjun Athreya is a senior writer at Essentially Sports and has been contributing since early 2020. Having developed an avid interest in sports at an early age, he pursued a Journalism degree and graduated from Madras Christian College. Arjun manages the Golf division and its content, and primarily covers news pertaining to the NBA as well.

Phil Mickelson Is Practicing ‘Mental Exercises’ to Elongate His Focus on the Golf Course

Phil Mickelson credits Quail Hollow for enabling him to play better

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