Out of contention, Lefty turns focus to U.S. Open bid
Phil Mickelson had a very Phil Mickelson round on Saturday in the third round of the PGA Championship.
It was a wild one, featuring just six pars in 18 holes. The problem was, he carded just three birdies to go with nine bogeys. The end result was a sloppy 6-over 76 that left him at 6over entering Sunday’s final round.
Mickelson will use the 18 holes he plays Sunday both to soak up the love from the New York fans who adore him and to start preparing for next month’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where for the fifth time he’ll try to complete the career Grand Slam.
“There’s a lot of things that you can take out in the small moments,’’ Mickelson said of playing this PGA while being way out of contention. “Obviously I’m not going to win this tournament, but the greens are very similar, this grass is Pebble Beach [grass]. The setup, the rough is very similar, the grasses in the fairway is similar. So you use that as preparation to see how the ball is coming out of the rough, how balls shoot out of the fairway.
“All the little details, and you try to build on it and take it into the future tournaments. There’s never a wasted round or a wasted shot.’’
Before his round Saturday, Mickelson posted a funny video of himself and his signature thumbs-up gesture to fans. He said he was hoping to break his personal record for thumbs-ups in Saturday’s round.
“I just had an idea and hopped in the car and shot it and then sent it and that was that,’’ he said. “It’s not really scripted. I’ve done them Saturday at the Masters and Saturday here, and I haven’t played great either day, so I’m going to try changing it up a little bit, the days, [because it] hasn’t worked out. So I’ll change that up. But it’s been fun, I just want to play better.’’
Asked how much a win at the U.S. Open, at which he has finished runner-up a record six times, would mean, Mickelson said: “There’s not much I could do right now that would do anything to redefine my career, but there’s one thing I could do, and that would be to win a U.S. Open.’’
How much does Mickelson think about winning a first U.S. Open after all the years and all the close calls?
“I don’t think about it a lot.” he said. “I do think about what I have to do to win a U.S. Open. And it’s getting increasingly difficult. But we’re on a golf course at Pebble where you really don’t need to hit a lot of drivers. And you need to putt poa annua [grass] greens very well with a lot of break, which is something I’ve done well. So it gives me a chance in that it lessens my weakness, which is hitting fairways.’’