NORTON, Mass. — It didn’t count as his first win of the year, but Phil Mickelson posted a “victory” Wednesday night that provided the fuel to sharpen his legendary needle.

And, yes, he took advantage.

“(It) made us all feel really bad because he sure let us know about it,” Jordan Spieth said.

Mickelson, Spieth and the six other automatic qualifiers to the U.S. Ryder Cup team – Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Brandt Snedeker, Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson – gathered Wednesday night for a team bonding event. It was held at Gillette Stadium, 20 minutes from TPC Boston, the site of this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship, and home to the New England Patriots. A heavy football theme prevailed.

“It was nice to wear a Patriots jersey, a great feeling,” said Mickelson, who also heard videotaped messages from Patriots Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski and coach Bill Belichick.

Even better was the 80-yard wedge contest that pitted the Americans against one another, but with one problem: There were no left-handed clubs.

The one player who needed them, Mickelson, wasn’t about to complain. Lefty, who actually is a righty, took one of the right-handed wedges and on his second shot hit it to 4 feet — and won. “Guys were hitting two or three balls,” said Spieth, but Mickelson needed but two.

When asked about it Thursday morning after his pro-am at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Mickelson couldn’t resist. He said four weeks before the Ryder Cup that it exposes a real weakness with the team’s short-game skills “if I’m beating them right-handed.”

A wide smile on his face, Mickelson said, “Now we’ve got time to fix it, but we’ve got an issue.”

The Mickelson needle aside, Spieth enjoyed the trip to Gillette Stadium, especially because it gave him a chance to get a peek at Brady’s locker. They’ve become friends because of their Under Armour deals and Spieth, a Dallas native and longtime Cowboys fan, had a photo taken of him in front of Brady’s locker.

“He made a comment like, ‘Where’s the security?’ ” Spieth said, laughing. “It was cool, (but) I didn’t touch anything. He’s got (the locker) pretty well made up.”