Phil hopes lightning strikes twice
Mickelson aiming to recapture form from British Open
Phil Mickelson, still smarting from his loss to Henrik Stenson at the British Open two weeks ago, hopes to rebound at this week’s PGA Championship by duplicating the final-round performance he fashioned at Troon.
The 46-year-old left-hander returns to Baltusrol, where he won the 2005 PGA title, intent upon not letting disappointment sabotage his chance to win another major title.
“What I want to do is just play to the level I played at Troon. I have to try to believe that it will be enough this time, if I can duplicate that performance,” Mickelson said on Tuesday.
“So that’s kind of the goal andthegameplan,tonotforce the issue, to just go play and trust that I’m hitting a lot of good shots and making some putts and trying not to worry about it.
“But that’s easier said than done.”
Mickelson fired a finalround 65 at Royal Troon and finished at 17-under 267 — good enough to win 141 prior British Opens.
But Sweden’s Stenson fired a 63, matching the lowest round in major history, to finish at 20-under 264, setting a low-aggregate major and matching the all-time major sub-par mark.
“We pushed each other to the limit, trading punches and blows all the way,” Stenson said.
“We both wanted it badly and we performed so well because of each other. I’m just delighted I managed to win it.
“A lot of the best players that have ever played the game are giving us credit for how we played. That’s obviously very pleasing and very humbling.”
Mickelson will wait to put it into perspective.
“I’ll look back and my disappointment will probably increase because I think it’s the first time in my career that I have played to that level and not had it be enough to win,” he said.
“That’s a disappointing thing because I would have loved to have added another claret jug.
“But because we have big tournaments coming up right now and because I am playing well, I don’t want to squander another really good opportunity at a course I like while my game is sharp. I don’t want to let the effects or disappointment linger.
“The idea is just to get back and start playing at that level again...andhopefullyitwillbe enough this week.”
Mickelson joked that he wouldn’t have done anything different in the final round “other than maybe go over to Stenson’s bag and bend his putter a little bit. That’s probably the only thing I could have done to have a chance.”
It was a telling comment from a guy who is having more fun and playing stress-free at the level he expects to perform.
The last time he was at Baltusrol, he won a major that backed up his prior win at the Masters and even helped him secure another green jacket.
“It was important for me to validate my Masters win in 2004 because I had said going in that when I win one, I’m going to win multiple — it wasn’t going to be just a oneand-done,” Mickelson said.
“I needed to come back in a fairly short time and validate that first win. So that’s what winning here at the PGA did, and it also gave me confidence to come back and win the following Masters a few months later.”
At 46 years, one month and 15 days, Mickelson would be the fourth-oldest major champion in history with a victory this week.
He would trail only fellow 46-year-olds Jack Nicklaus fromthe1986MastersandOld Tom Morris from the 1867 British Open and the record of age 48 by Julius Boros at the 1968 PGA Championship.
And Mickelson doesn’t see his chances of winning another major dwindling.
“I don’t believe there is a small window. I think there’s a really big window of opportunity to add to my resume, to continue to compete in big events,” he said
“The feel and sensitivity of hittingshots,theabilitytoplay courses a certain way, to visualize, to make birdies, to pull shots off — that has not diminished.”