A day of frustration for Lefty

PHIL MICKELSON has only a few hours left as Open Champion after a third successive day of frustration at Royal Liverpool.

Mickelson just hasn’t been able to find the magic he produced at Muirfield 12 months ago to seize the Claret Jug.

And he bemoaned a round of missed opportunities as he could not take advantage of surprisingly benign conditions and had to settle for a one-under-par 71 after scores of 74 and 70 on the first two days.

That leaves him a whopping 15 shots behind leader Rory McIlroy

Yet, that has been the story of 2014 for the American, which has been poor by his incredibly high standards.

He has failed to have a top 10 on the PGATour, let alone a victory, and his best finish anywhere was a tie for second in Abu Dhabi in January.

Because of the R&A’s decision to utilise a two-tee start in case of thunderstorms, Mickelson was in the first group out and eager to make up ground.

It looked good when he made a

Phil Mickelson. birdie three on the first in the pouring rain, but he couldn’t back it up.

Three bogeys followed on two, six and seven to all but end his hopes as he reached the turn in a disappointing 37.

To his credit, he headed for home with three birdies in four holes to get into red figures, but he failed to take advantage of par-fives at 16 and 18.

He may have one Open to his name, but he couldn’t hide his disappointment afterwards.

“Oh my goodness, I threw countless shots away throughout the day,” he bemoaned.“It’s so frustrating.

“I know that it’s not far off, but it has to click and it just hasn’t yet. I’ve thrown so many shots away each round and I feel like I’m playing a lot better than I’m scoring.

“We had beautiful scoring conditions and we could have shot seven, eight, nine-under par because a score like that was out there.

“Having success in this tournament means a lot to me. But getting it a taste of it last year, I just want it even more.”