12 May 2023 , 21:34
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Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has been left red-faced alongside Phil Mickelson after hitting an embarrassing tee shot at LIV Tulsa's pro-am.
LIV Golf has made its way to Oklahoma for the very first time this week, and ahead of the action the rebel pros teed it up alongside a group of star-studded amateurs in Wednesday's warm-up. One of those invited with Thunder coach Daigneault, who had the pleasure of joining six-time major champion Mickelson at Cedar Ridge.
The 38-year-old is used to leading out his team in front of sell-out NBA crowds week in, week out but the pressures of joining one of golf's biggest stars on the tee seemingly proved all too much.
Daigneault was the perfect partner for Mickelson, emulating the 53-year-old's famous left-handed swing. This however is where the similarities stopped as Thunder coach almost skewed his shot backwards and into a spectator recording just yards away.
It is fair to say there were no sympathies for Daigneault from fans on social media. One fan poked fun at the coach's golf swing, tweeting: "I think we just confirmed that Mark ain't cutting out of the office early to hit the range. All about the work/grind. Love it!"
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This was echoed by one cheeky social media user, who added: "How is that possible. That’s brutal." Some however related with Daigneault's struggles, as one tweeted: "This is also how I play golf," before another commented: "Happens to the best of us."
Daigneault's mishap took the limelight away from playing partner Mickelson for a short while, with Lefty having been central to LIV Golf's ongoing saga with the PGA Tour. Mickelson has taken his fair share of shots at his rivals, with the latest coming just this week.
Phil Mickelson and Mark Daigneault teamed up at LIV Tulsa (Sam Greenwood/LIV Golf/AP/REX/Shutterstock)In a dig at both the PGA of America and the PGA Tour, the six-time major champion criticised the qualification process of next week's PGA Championship, posting: " "PGA uses OWGR [Official World Golf Rankings] to get in. #103 Tringale #111 Munoz #110 Kokrak OUT. #128 Hossler IN. Colluding with [the] Tour against LIV. 3 years from now who is most likely to still be here?
""[PGA Tour commissioner, Jay] Monahan or LIV? We won't forget. You too [USGA CEO, Mike] Whan." Mickelson was quick to delete his tweet though after noticing a glaring mistake. This comes after PGA Championship organisers use their own points system to determine qualifiers, rather than world rankings like Mickelson suggested.