Mickelson forges ahead amidst dry spell
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — This has to be wearing on Phil Mickelson. He won’t show it or cop to it, because his entire being is predicated on relentless positivity. But how many more golf tournaments is he going to put himself in contention to win and walk away empty-handed before it breaks him?
The Genesis Open this week at Riviera was yet another tournament in which Mickelson gave himself a legitimate chance to win and left the property while another player — in this case, Bubba Watson — was hoisting the winner’s trophy on the 18th green.
Mickelson, who shot 68 Sunday to finish in a tie for sixth, has not won a tournament since his 2013 British Open triumph at Muirfield. Tiger Woods, whose career has been in question for the last three years, has won more recently than Mickelson. This week was Mickelson’s 101st consecutive tournament played without a victory.
Yet Mickelson relentlessly continues to push himself to the cusp of victory without a taste of the reward. The tie for sixth followed a tie for fifth last week at Pebble Beach and a tie for second the week before that at Phoenix. Earlier this season, he tied for third at the Safeway Open.
“I think it’s going to happen soon,’’ Mickelson said. “It could have happened this week. It could have happened the last few weeks. I’m close to breaking through.’’
Mickelson had a real chance to break through Sunday. When he birdied the 10th hole from off the green and then chipped in for birdie on No. 12, he got to 9-under and was just one shot out of the lead, held at that moment by Patrick Cantlay.
But his aggressive flag-hunting instincts hurt him on Nos. 15 and 16, where he tried to be too precise landing shots close to the flags for birdie chances and it cost him. Those two bogeys dropped him from contention as Watson made his move.
Mickelson, who’s won the Masters three times, said he believes it’s critical for him to win a tournament before he gets to Augusta in April. He’ll have three tournaments to do it: The WGC in Mexico, the WGC Match Play and the Houston Open.
“I think it will be important for me to break through with a win if I want to go into Augusta with the expectation of winning [the Mas- ters] again,’’ he said. “I don’t want to go there without a win. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen, but I think that that would be a big thing for momentum because you need to perform under the gun, in the clutch, and play well enough to win a tournament before you expect to win a major.’’
Mickelson insisted these close calls are “encouraging,’’ adding, “It motivates me to work harder to get over that last little hurdle. That’s going to happen really soon. I don’t know if it will happen in Mexico City, I don’t know if it will happen at the Match Play or Houston or where, but it’s going to happen soon, and when it does I think I’ll have multiple wins after that.’’