Mickelson treads familiar ground in attempt to end 30-year quest at US Open

Last month Phil Mickelson won the US PGA Championship on the brutal Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, to become the oldest major winner in golfing history. He was 50 at the time.

It was a seismic achievement in a sport that is more forgiving for players over 35 years old, but even so, the previous oldest major winner had been Julius Boros who was 48.

For the left-handed Mickelson, his left-field PGA victory immediately reignited a conversation about one of professional sport’s apparent biggest injustices — that Phil has never won the US Open.

For the all-American kid from California, who won his first tournament on the PGA Tour as an amateur (in 1991) and who was also a US Amateur champion in 1990 — when he beat South Africa’s Manny Zerman 5&4 in the matchplay final — it seemed only a matter of time before he won his nation’s Open title.

But 30 years on and 29 US Open appearances later that have yielded six runners-up finishes, it seemed his chance had gone. Until his heroics at Kiawah last month rekindled optimism that he might finally secure the only major missing from CV at Torrey Pines — a course that is a few kilometres from his home.

Phil most infamously came closest at the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot. Mickelson had won the previous two majors (the 2005 PGA and the 2006 Masters) and was on course to win a third straight major and his first US Open.

But on the 72nd and final hole, with a one-shot lead, Mickelson chose an aggressive play, using his driver and he ended up in a corporate hospitality enclosure. He could have chipped out on the fairway, but he tried another aggressive shot and ended up hitting a tree. He then plugged his third in a greenside bunker and ended up making double-bogey, to give a slightly stunned Geoff Ogilvy the US Open title.

That was the zenith of the US Open heartbreak for Mickelson because it was the one he lost. On the other five occasions, he was runner-up, he didn’t blow it on the final hole.

Before the PGA Championship heroics last month, it seemed that Mickelson would end his career without a US Open. A golfing crime equivalent to Ernie Els not having a Masters green jacket (ironically Mickelson denied Els his best chance in 2004). Mickelson might still not win a US Open, but in 2021, there is hope for Lefty.

Can lightning strike twice?

Thanks to the performance at Kiawah, Mickelson quite unexpectedly enters this year’s tournament as a legitimate contender even though he turned 51 on 16 June.

At Kiawah, he drove the ball longer than almost anyone in the field and he drove it straighter than most — components that are key to US Open success. Of course, winning at 50 is such an outlier of a result that expecting him to do it again, really is like expecting lightning to strike the same place twice. 

But why not? His form is good and the tournament is on a course that Phil grew up playing on, although it’s a different layout these days.

“It’s a unique opportunity because I’ve never won a US Open,” Mickelson pointed out to the media as if any reminder were necessary. “It’s in my backyard. I have a chance to prepare properly, and I wanted to put in the right work.

“So, I’ve kind of shut off all the noise. I’ve shut off my phone. I’ve shut off a lot of the other stuff so I can focus on this week and really give it my best chance to try to play my best.

“Now, you always need some luck, you always need things to come together and click, but I know that I’m playing well, and I just wanted to give myself every opportunity to be in play at my best.”

Mickelson, who has only played once since winning the PGA, has spent a lot of time practising at Torrey Pines, which underwent a facelift several years ago. Despite his local knowledge of the layout, Mickelson had to learn some new nuances.

“I put a lot of time in on the greens, because even though they’re not at tournament speed, I needed to kind of relearn and see the breaks and know what the ball does on these greens,” Mickelson said.

“Because then, when you see the way the ball rolls you know where you have to be for your approach and you know what kind of shot is the best shot to hit into certain approaches. Granted, I’ve played out here a bunch since the redo, but I really haven't spent a lot of time learning the nuances, and I did that early last week.

“What’s happened for me is I spent so many hours as a kid that, when the course was redesigned, all that local knowledge went away,” Mickelson said.

“I haven’t come out here and spent a ton of time. It’s hard to get a tee time out here, and when you do, it’s a long round. So, I don’t spend a lot of time out here.

“I really made an effort here, having the last week off, to spend time and really relearn the greens. I spent a lot of hours out here on the greens last week to see if I can get that local knowledge again.” 

South African contingent

Garrick Higgo of South Africa poses with the trophy after winning on the 18th green during the final round of the Palmetto Championship at Congaree on June 13, 2021 in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Higgo will be among nine South African players competing alongside American Phil Mickelson at the US Open at Torrey Pines this week. (Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)