Apparently, when you’re Phil Mickelson, you get to call the shots, even at the Presidents Cup, and even when the decisions are based largely on vibes — or astrology.
Longtime PGA Tour veteran and current NBC analyst Kevin Kisner revealed on a recent episode of the Barstool Sports “Fore Play Podcast” that despite lobbying against it, he was paired up with Mickelson at the 2017 Presidents Cup. The unlikely duo wasn’t the result of analytics or course setup, though.
Mickelson, Kisner says, liked his energy.
Kevin Kisner Shares Unbelievable Phil Mickelson Astrology Story
“(Captain Steve Stricker rides up during a practice round) and says ‘Kiz, you’re going out last tomorrow in alternate with Phil,'” Kisner, who said in a pre-tournament survey that Mickelson was the only player he didn’t want to be paired with, recounted.
” … I was like, ‘Dude, what?’ Literally we’ve talked about all week is I’m not playing with Phil, and he’s like, ‘Well, he’s the veteran on the team, and he pretty much forced my hand that he was playing with you. He has an astrologist who does his energy. He measures everybody on the team, and you’re the only A+ on the team.’
“So I’m like, ‘OK.'”
Somehow, the story gets even better.
“Phil doesn’t really say anything about it until we’re getting ready to go,” Kisner continued. “Phil goes, ‘Look, Kiz,’ I can feed off your energy. So you get your energy from your belly, so every time I hit a shot, I want you to face me with your belly. I’m like, ‘What? What planet are we on?’
” … So I was like moving people on the tee boxes, I would have to go stand by the tee marker, and he’s like ‘It even helps if you stick your belly out,’ so I’m like, sticking my belly out at Phil Mickelson. And man, he played unbelievably. So maybe there’s something to it. Shoutout his astrologist.”
The numbers back it up, too. Kisner and Mickelson halved their Thursday foursomes match with Jason Day and Marc Leishman before outlasting the Australian pair in Friday foursomes with a 1 up win. They picked up another foursomes win Saturday morning before taking a breather Saturday afternoon. Only Dustin Johnson scored more points than Mickelson (3.5) that week at Liberty National, where Team USA cruised to a 19-11 win over the International team.
Phil Mickelson Story Sign of Team USA Flaw?
Ultimately, it’s probably nothing more than a funny story, and it worked out pretty well for Team USA. However, at least one golf journalist wondered whether this was a telling look into the decision-making dynamics and processes for the Americans at international golf events.
“And folks still wonder how (Team Europe) have won 9 of the last 12 Ryder Cups,” Golf Digest’s Jamie Kennedy tweeted, while sharing the video.
While probably overstating the bigger issues at hand, it is an interesting commentary on the state of the two teams. The Europeans get a lot of credit for embracing stats and analytics for how they build their rosters, set up the courses and tweak their lineups for the Ryder Cup.
Meanwhile, there seem to be questions following every Ryder Cup about whether Team USA dropped the ball in the same areas. The 2025 Ryder Cup was no different. Team captain Keegan Bradley admitted he “definitely made a mistake” with the course setup at Bethpage Black.
Kevin Kisner Shares Hilarious Phil Mickelson Presidents Cup Story