Mickelson accepts exemption to Open

Phil Mickelson is assured at least one more crack at the major that has given him the most heartache. He accepted a special exemption Friday to play the U.S. Open.

Mickelson becomes the first player since Vijay Singh in 2010 to receive an exemption without having won the U.S. Open, and he’s not without merit. He has won five majors — all of them except the U.S. Open — to go along with his 44 victories on the PGA Tour.

He has been eligible for every U.S. Open dating to 1994, but the 50-year-old Mickelson has fallen out of the top 100 in the world ranking. He had said in February 2020, a month before golf shut down because of the pandemic, that he would not accept an exemption even if the USGA offered him one.

He was prepared to go through 36-hole qualifying on June 7, a week before the U.S. Open returns to Torrey Pines in his hometown of San Diego.

“Winning the U.S. Open has been a lifelong and elusive dream, and I’ve come close so many times,” Mickelson said. “You can’t win if you don’t play. I’m honored and appreciative of the USGA for the opportunity and look forward to playing in my hometown on a golf course I grew up on.”

No one has suffered more in the U.S. Open than Mickelson, who needs only that major to complete the career Grand Slam. He holds the U.S. Open record with six runner-up finishes, and two moments stand out.

In 2006 at Winged Foot, he took a one-shot lead to the final hole when he missed the fairway well to the left and then curiously tried to hit 3-iron around a tree blocking his path to the green. It hit the tree, his third shot plugged in a bunker and he failed to get up-and-down, making double bogey to finish one shot behind.

And then at Merion in 2013, he had the 54-hole lead for the first time and was still leading when he hit wedge over the par-3 13th green and made bogey on the easiest hole. He made another bogey with a wedge in his hand from 121 yards away on No. 15 and closed with a third bogey to finish two shots behind.

He also was runner-up at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1999 when Payne Stewart made a 15-foot par putt on the last hole.