Milestones beckon Woods, Mickelson
Southampton (United States), June 13: World number one Dustin Johnson leads a string of in-form stars out to deny Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson another measure of major magic at the 118th US Open.
Woods, whose pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 major victories has remained stalled at 14 since his 2008 US Open triumph, will put his fused spine and gradually improving game to the test at Shinnecock Hills in the 10th official start of his comeback season.
Five-time major winner Mickelson will try to become just the sixth golfer to complete the career Grand Slam in a tournament in which he has settled for second a remarkable, heartbreaking, six times.
Mickelson, who turns 48 on Saturday, would become the oldest US Open champion and the second-oldest major winner in history should he pull off the feat.
“We’re certainly on the back end of our careers,” 42-year-old Woods admitted.
“We’ve been going at it for 20-plus years. That’s a long time.”
India’s Subhankar Sharma was fired up to produce a fine show after attending a dinner hosted by Ernie Els, the captain for the 2019 Presidents Cup, on Tuesday.
“I was quite excited to attend the dinner hosted by Ernie Els. He has always been someone I have looked up and he was one of the stars who kindled my interest in golf way back in 2008 (in Delhi),” Subhankar said.
“There would be nothing I would love more than to play on the team he leads at the Presidents Cup next year,” added the Indian.