This won’t be Phil Mickelson’s last chance to win a U.S. Open. But it may be his last best chance.
Mickelson turned 45 Tuesday, meaning he’ll be 10 days younger than Hale Irwin was when he became the oldest U.S. Open champion in 1990. He has embraced the links-style course that has stirred memories of his British Open win two years ago. And the wide fairways and undulations at Chambers Bay seem to favor his combination of length off the tee and exquisite short game.
Mickelson, of course, has been runner-up in this event a record six times and lacks only a U.S. Open victory to become the sixth man to complete the modern grand slam.
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“Something I really would love to do is complete the career grand slam,” said Mickelson, who will be paired with Bubba Watson and Angel Cabrera at 7:33 a.m. (PDT) Thursday. The company he would join includes Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and Ben Hogan.
Mickelson’s half-dozen U.S. Open defeats have come in every way possible, from never having a chance against Woods at Bethpage Black in 2002 to his double-bogey finish at Winged Foot in 2006. But he still regards his most painful loss his experience at Merion two years ago, when his three bogeys on the back nine on Sunday handed the title to Justin Rose.
“I was playing well enough to win and a couple of mistakes ended up costing me,” he said. “Not to take anything from Justin, who played a phenomenal final round, but I felt like I didn’t have to play exceptional to shoot a lower score than that and I just didn’t do it.”
Mickelson assuaged that pain by winning back-to-back at the Scottish and British opens a month later, but hasn’t won since. He struggled through the worst season of his career in 2014, posting only one top-10 finish, a tie for second at the PGA Championship.
This year has been better, including a second at the Masters, fourth at Charlotte and third last week at Memphis, where he closed with a 5-under 65.
“The last two years my technique and my form are not what it’s been throughout the course of my career,” he acknowledged. “It’s been very frustrating.
“Recently, though, I feel like I found the direction on getting that back, getting my swing plane back, making solid contact, hitting the shots I want to hit. But it’s in its infancy. I don’t know how long it will take to get it really sharp. I saw a really good glimpse last week. Maybe it’s this week, maybe it isn’t.”
Jupiter’s Rickie Fowler, who plays a Tuesday practice round with Mickelson on a weekly basis, doesn’t expect “Lefty” to fade into the background anytime soon.
“He’s still got plenty of power; he’s still got all the shots in the bag,” Fowler said. “You come up with a short-game shot and you’re not really going to ask anyone (else) to hit it if there was a must-make up-and-down. He still impresses me with his game.”
Mickelson is believed to have made only one scouting trip to Chambers Bay, but it was an extensive one. He described numerous situations in which the vagaries of the course come into play, comparing them to St. Andrews, and said he asked “a lot of questions” of a local caddie named Rick about other peculiarities.
“The nuances you don’t pick up the first time at St. Andrews, you don’t pick up here,” he said. “But after playing a while, it feels like it’s not as difficult a course.”
Whether all those factors come together, whether he overcomes the putting woes that undercut him last year and the fatigue he’ll have to battle traversing the undulating Chambers Bay layout, Mickelson said he’s always used his failures as a motivator for ultimate success.
“Some people get discouraged by that; it almost pushes them away,” he said. “But for me, it’s been a motivator to continue to work harder and get over that hump, whether it was trying to win my first major championship, which took significantly longer than I thought it would, to win a (British) Open Championship or U.S. Open championship.
“The fact I’ve come so close is a motivator for me to work harder. And it’s encouraged me that I’ve done well in this tournament. It’s encouraging that I’ve had success and I’ve played some of my best golf in this event and that I’ve had a number of opportunities.”
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