INVERNESS, Scotland (AP) — Phil Mickelson was supposed to be at the Vatican with his wife and daughter on Thursday.
Instead, after cutting short his family holiday in Italy, he found himself at the Scottish Open, attempting to play his way out of a bad run going into next week’s British Open.
“I’ve only played three events in the last six to eight weeks. I haven’t been in a competitive frame of mind and that’s what I’m working on now,” he said.
Mickelson shot a 1-over 73 in his first round on the links course at Castle Stuart and was 11 strokes behind early leader Francesco Molinari of Italy.
