Phil Mickelson took a swipe at Sam Ryder on Twitter while he was leading the Farmers Insurance Open on Saturday night and he was back behind the keyboard again on Sunday after he couldn’t resist a cut at Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy shot a seven-under 65 to move three clear in the Dubai Desert Classic ahead of a final round Monday finish and Mickelson sarcastically praised him on Twitter.
“What a great -7 3rd round boy Rory McIlroy in DUBAI to open up a 3 shot lead. See if he can finish it off. Watch live final round action from the Middle East on the golf channel.”
McIlroy’s performance in round three was excellent until a late blemish on 18 but the second Rolex Series event on the DP World Tour had been blighted by a ‘storm in a tee-cup’ following tee-gate earlier in the week.
Patrick Reed threw a tee in the direction of McIlroy after the latter failed to acknowledge the American who has defected to LIV Golf on the driving range. Subpoenaing somebody on Christmas Eve would garner such ignorance.
But Mickelson, eager to back up Reed and lump more heat on the back of McIlroy as this exhausting feud between the Holywood native and the LIV rebels continues, attempted to point out the hypocrisy.
In the early days of LIV rumours, one of McIlroy’s first points to criticise LIV was the source of the money and how he was not comfortable with where it was coming from.
Hence why Mickelson has labelled Dubai in all capitals in his tweet and mentioned the tournament is taking place in the Middle East, the same part of the world where the Saudi backed LIV Golf comes from.
His attempts to ridicule the four-time major champion for playing golf in Dubai and the Middle East appear to have fallen on deaf ears.
Mickelson has been busy on Twitter over the weekend, taking a cheap swipe at Ryder – who was leading the Farmers Insurance Open at the time – for wearing Burgundy jogger-style golf trousers and ankle socks which exposed his ankles to the television cameras.
The six-time US Open runner-up used Ryder’s appearance as fuel for a dig at the PGA Tour’s policy of not allowing shorts – unlike LIV which allows players to wear shorts in competition play.
“The Tour doesn’t allow shorts but does allow this weeks leader to wear joggers with ankle socks? Showing four inches of ankle? I’m no fashion guy, never will be, but there are some things I won’t ever understand.”
This coming from a man who regularly wore an all white, long sleeved, buttoned shirt on the golf course…
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