“Really made an impact on me” – Keith Mitchell thanks Michael Phelps for strong start at The Players Championship

“Really made an impact on me” – Keith Mitchell thanks Michael Phelps for strong start at The Players Championship

Keith Mitchell and Michael Phelps

American golfer Keith Mitchell thanked veteran swimmer Michael Phelps for the assist after shooting a 5-under 67 in The Players Championship. This helped Mitchell to trail co-leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge by one at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday.

Over a year ago, the 30-year-old was well into a promising career and had yielded one PGA Tour victory at The Honda Classic. However, he suspected he wasn’t getting the most out of his game owing to his bad attitude and he went on to meet the 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, the most decorated swimmer of all time.

“I was not giving it my all,” Mitchell said after his opening round Thursday, which featured an eagle at the par-5 ninth hole. “And he was kind of helping me through some downs and kind of really hit the reset button about a year ago. That kind of started everything, getting a mentality, getting some coaching, and really just not just feeling sorry for yourself out here.”

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“Felt like a loser talking to Phelps” 

Keith Mitchell
Keith Mitchell

The first round tested everyone in the field owing to the weather delays. But the Tennessee native Mitchell said he had fun hanging out in the locker room and maintained a positive attitude which wasn’t always easy. His work with Phelps, an avid golfer, has helped as earlier he felt beat up, and like he had hit some sort of wall. 

“We had dinner a long time ago in Phoenix,” Mitchell said, “and he was talking about some really thoughtful things that apply to every sport. I’ll never forget, it really made an impact on me. It’s not just your typical golf stuff like one shot at a time and stay patient. It was more of kind of how to act and focus on the course, which is how you would do in swim meets.

“… I just remember feeling like a loser talking to him sometimes,” he continued, “how I felt on the golf course, like pity and sorrow, and this game is hard. He just pretty much said there’s no place for that if you want to be at the top. That was probably a year, year and a half ago, when I was probably the lowest I’ve been in the World Rankings since I got on the PGA TOUR.”

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