This Video Of Phil Mickelson’s Incredible ‘Flop Shot’ Is Going Viral

Five-time major-tournament-winner Phil Mickelson has long been one of the most popular golfers in the world, as his personality, dramatic shot-making and hilarious interactions with the gallery have made “Lefty” a fan-favorite.

One of Mickelson’s calling cards is his genius play around the greens, particularly his expertise on a “flop shot,” a golf shot designed to quickly get the ball up in the air and land softly while making sure it doesn’t go too far. It doesn’t look that hard, but if you have ever golfed before you know that it is one of the hardest things to do on a course (minus running from large birds).

But Mickeson is the master of the flop shot, and he showed just how confident he is when he decided to pull of a flop shot this week while warming up for the British Open … over an actual person.

https://twitter.com/MickelsonHat/status/1019317413605724161

That very, very trusting person is European Tour pro Gary Evans, who managed to barely flinch despite a golf ball coming inches from turning him from a golf player into a hockey player. This second angle will give you a better idea of just how close he was standing:

https://twitter.com/garyevanspro/status/1019219019981783040

I golf quite a bit, and I consider myself decent at it. But if I tried this shot 100 times, I would have hit Evans in the face with the ball 100 times and probably also taken out his shin with the club. Mickelson makes it look easy, though, and, given his notorious love of friendly wagers on the course, I have to think he probably made some money for pulling it off.

Video of the shot has quickly gone viral, with the Open’s Twitter account even issuing a trust flop challenge and many people tagging their friends:

By the way, there is a reason they put a laughing emoji on the end of that. You should not try this on your friend. This is probably what will happen. Stick to maybe aiming at these inanimate objects to start.

If there is a shot of Mickelson’s you want to emulate, check out his performance at the U.S. Open, when he got frustrated and ran to put a moving ball, which is fine when you and your buddy are playing on the local course. Less so on the PGA Tour:

Mickelson is hoping for better results at this week’s Open, which kicked off today in Scotland. Maybe he should have Evans stand in front of all of his shots.

[h/t Yahoo]