Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship on Saturday.
getty photos
Phil Mickelson has by no means been shy about experimenting with gear to optimize his efficiency. He has performed with two drivers, no drivers and a 10-year-old driver. At the 2013 Masters, he famously gamed a so-called Phrankenwood, which was, in essence, a Callaway X-Hot 3-wood with the equal loft and shaft of a driver. Mickelson has performed with 5 wedges, and at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot he wielded a 64-degree wedge.
But on Saturday at the PGA Championship, it wasn’t the contents of Mickelson’s bag that raised eyebrows however as a substitute what was sitting on the bridge of his nostril: sunglasses. Many gamers put on shades, in fact, however not in the rain — or, extra to the level, in a gentle downpour, which is what the gamers endured for a lot of the third spherical at Oak Hill. Pros wore rain fits, caddies wrung out towels, followers hid below umbrellas, and thru all of it Mickelson remained loyal to his spectacles.
Frames in the rain? What provides? After his spherical, Mickelson defined in a tweet to CBS Sports golf author Kyle Porter:
“They are light enhancement glasses that are made for overcast and rainy days,” Mickelson wrote. “They add light, helps to read greens, and protects from wind and rain drops. They’re not for everybody. In fact, not many people even know of them.”
Mickelson didn’t clarify the know-how behind his glasses (or the model), however in response to a blog post on the Fuse Lenses website, polarized lenses can certainly be efficient in the rain, particularly when driving (automobiles not golf balls). “The ideal driving tint for medium to low sunlight is going to be a Category 2 lens or lighter,” the publish says. “A Category 2 lens includes VLTs that range from 18-45%, meaning that the lenses allow 18-45% of visible light to pass through the lenses. Lenses in this category are perfect for the rain since they allow more light in and are suitable for conditions below bright sunlight.”
Mickelson wears sunglasses in all situations today — they’ve turn into a staple of his look — however for most of his profession he went shade-free. That modified throughout the Covid pandemic when, Mickelson says, he started utilizing Carac cream.
“[It’s] like a skin cancer chemotherapy treatment on your face for, like, two weeks,” Mickelson defined when he joined the CBS sales space at the 2020 PGA Championship. “Your pores and skin blotches up and also you kill these most cancers cells that you may’t see, and after I went outdoors, I needed to put on some safety so I wore these glasses to guard the space round my eyes.
“I liked them. They didn’t move around on my face when I was swinging. I went out and played with them, and I thought ‘Oh, I’ll give it a try.’ So that’s kind of where it started and then my eyes were much more relaxed at the end of the day, they weren’t squinting the whole time.”
Be he taking part in in rain or shine.
