Donât act like a fanboy, you say to yourself. But thatâs one of San Diegoâs own, just like you, and you like his tweets and you play his gear, and now heâs on your course. Donât act like a fanboy. But you hit bombs, too. Donât act li ⦠OK, OK, OK. When you drive past in your golf cart, lift up your phone real casual like and get a video.
âYou see him?â
âHeâs right there. Heâs taking his jacket off.â
Victor Lopez is holding his phone out now, when his buddy, Marco Contreras, canât help himself.
âLetâs go, Phil!â
And Phil Mickelson waved.
One hole earlier, Lefty did them one better. Or 100 ones better.
Last Wednesday, as Lopez, Contreras and another friend, Estes Rodriguez, were playing Maderas Golf Club just outside of San Diego, Mickelson was working on its par-3 7th. The threesome was told in the clubhouse that the five-time major champion was shooting an Amstel Light commercial on the green, and they could play 1-6 and 8-18, but would have to skip 7 (and could replay 1).
Before we get any further, some important background. During the week, Lopez is a 22-year-old who works in politics. During the weekend, Lopez is Mickelson. âI live by the Phil quote, or itâs like a tweet that he put out,â Lopez said. âHeâs like, 180 ball speed or whatever that he was hitting on the tracker. And then someone replied, they were just like, but yeah, did you hit a fairway? And then Phil goes, does it matter? Weâre still hitting bombs, baby. I live by that.â
Back to the Maderas clubhouse.
âAll of a sudden we hear, oh, Phil Mickelson is supposed to be here,â Lopez told GOLF.com. âLike one of the managers from the Maderas Golf Course told us. So it was supposed to be low key. And weâre like, oh, OK, thatâs sick.â
Itâd get sicker.
On the 6th, one hole before their detour, a man drove up with both a message and money from Mickelson.
Sorry for the inconvenience, fellas. Hereâs a Benjamin.
âWe were like, oh, what?â Lopez said. âWe were just stoked. We were like, oh, we got a 100 from Phil. Weâre like, we got to frame it. Honestly, it would have been cool if it would have been signed, but you take what you can get. It paid for some hot dogs and a few Snickers bars, you know.”
Theyâd drive by 7. About 30 yards past the green, they watched the filming and took a few photos â in one posted to Instagram, Mickelson is clanging together two bottles of beer and smiling. (Amstel Light, in fact, commented on Lopez’s post and offered to ship some beer.)
They’d eventually get to 8. A 100 bucks richer from Mickelsonâs wallet, where’d you end up, Victor?
âIâm like, hey, channeling that Phil Mickelson energy, and then I hit a hard slice on hole 8,â Lopez said. âIt was funny as hell.â
After the round, the threesome split the $100 three ways â Rodriguez would keep the actual bill â and talked shop. Then stopped. There was Phil.
Donât act like a fanboy. Donât act like a fanboy. OK, OK, OK, a âheyâ canât hurt.
âI was just like, Phil!
âAnd then he turned around, and he was like, hey!
âAnd Iâm just like, howâs it going?
âAnd heâs like, good!
âAnd then Iâm like, thanks for repping San Diego, man.
âAnd then he just waves off and walks into the clubhouse. I donât know if he was eating or going to a bathroom break, but he was grinding, for sure.â
Of course, the $100 question is:
Did Lopez ever think of asking for more?
âHonestly, who wouldnât think about asking for more, but even though I would have wanted to do all these things â honestly, I thought it would have been super cool to maybe hit a shot off the tee with Phil because driving is the best part of my game,â Lopez said. âBut no, I have so much respect for Phil. I know heâs a busy guy. Iâm sure heâs got a bunch of fans trying to hound him and everything.
âHe could have not just given us a 100 bucks. It wouldnât have changed anything â none of us were expecting it. If anything, itâs just out of respect for Phil. I would skip a hole for Phil any day of the week. I would skip a whole round for Phil if thatâs what I needed to because honestly heâs one of the GOATs.â