re: Spieth to tote US Open trophy around in practice round to mess with Phil

quote:

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BRENDAN STEELE HAD a feeling things were going a little too well. It was the Tuesday before the 2013 Players Championship, and Steele and Keegan Bradley stood on the 12th green at TPC Sawgrass with a 2-up lead on Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler in a best-ball practice match. Bradley was staring down a 10-foot putt that would give them a three-hole advantage with six to play -- not an insurmountable lead, but close enough. As Bradley read the putt, Phil spoke up from behind.

"Let me tell you," Mickelson began. "This is the whole match."

His voice was even, almost thoughtful. An onlooker might have mistaken it for candor. But Steele and Bradley did their best to tune him out. They'd been playing in practice rounds against Mickelson for two years now, and they knew what was coming -- a piece of vicious psychological warfare cloaked in a veil of objective philosophy. Money was on the line, real money, and Mickelson wasn't about to go down quietly. He had the commitment of a method actor in these moments, and to engage him, even just a little, would be to let him inside your head.

"If you make this putt," Mickelson continued, in his earnest way, "then we're going to be 3 down, and it's going to be too much to come back from. You guys are going to be excited, and you're going to have all the momentum."

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