Mickelson has a long day

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Phil Mickelson has never had a round quite this bad at a PGA Championship.

Mickelson shot a 79 on Thursday — the worst round of his 25 appearances at the final major of the season — with eight bogeys. The most recent of Lefty’s 78s came in 2013 at Oak Hill.

He was at 6 over entering the treacherous final three holes at Quail Hollow known as the Green Mile and had bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 before closing his round with a par.

That left him tied for 131st place, 12 strokes behind leaders Thorbjorn Olesen and Kevin Kisner.

Mickelson’s struggles come on a course he performed well at for years and considers one of his favorites on the PGA Tour. Quail Hollow typically hosts the Wells Fargo Championship.

Mickelson has not missed the cut at the PGA Championship since 1995.

Taking his lumps: The Green Mile was tough on everyone — including a course marshal.

Brooks Koepka ’s drive on No. 16 sailed to the right and hit a marshal in the head in the morning session, leaving his face bloodied.

The man left the course for the remainder of the day, but PGA officials said he was fine.

“He just got drilled in the head,” Koepka said. “I felt terrible about it.”

Koepka said the marshal was laughing and joking about the ball bouncing off his head and back into the fairway.

“He kept telling me, ‘You got a good break.’ ” Koepka said.

Aces are wild: The first hole-in-one of the tournament belongs to Joost Luiten.

He aced the par-3 No. 4 after he bogeyed his two previous holes. Luiten’s tee shot on the 184yard hole bounced once on the green before plunking into the cup.

Luiten finished with a 76.