Phil Mickelson acknowledged Wednesday that he would have moped about the house a few more days last June after what he termed then as the “heartbreak” of his runner-up finish at Merion were it not for a planned family vacation. But the five-time major champion, who has said he can win at least a couple U.S. Opens, refuses to view his record six second-place results as a negative.
Phil Mickelson views record six U.S. Open runners-up as a blessing, not a curse
Some may consider Phil Mickelson’s record six runner-up finishes in the U.S. Opens a failure, but the glass-completely-full Lefty believes his results mean he’s ‘played some of the best golf’ of his career in his national championship.
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“I don’t,” Mickelson responded when asked this week at the Memorial about feeling added pressure for the U.S. Open. “Because some people view it as though ‘he’s come close and he’s never done it.’ I see it as though I’ve finished second six times in this event, I played some of my best golf in this event, and that I should have an opportunity, and more than one opportunity, to close one out here in the future.”
The popular left-handed batter wears his emotions on his Callaway-adorned sleeve, so the world knew how dispiriting his two-shot loss to Justin Rose was at last year’s national championship.
Memorial Tournament
“I mean, this is tough to swallow after coming so close,” he said a year ago from Philadelphia after sharing second with Jason Day.
Mickelson said it was more productive for him to share his sentiments than hide them.
“I just think it’s easier to be honest and up front about what I’m feeling and going through than it is to try and deny it, which is why, when I lose, I talk about how tough it is. Because it is. It’s challenging,” he said. “Like it was the biggest defeat ‑‑ I had such a down moment after losing at Merion.
“The same thing at Winged Foot [in 2006, when Mickelson double-bogeyed the 72nd hole to finish T2],” he added. “And it’s easier, rather than trying to put on a front or trying to deny what’s playing out in my head, just to be honest.”
Lefty wants that career grand slam so badly (he’s won three green jackets, a Wanamaker, and a Claret Jug, but there’s a hole in his trophy cabinet where the missing hardware belongs) that winning just one U.S. Open would rewrite the narrative of his career.
Mickelson reacts to a shot on the 18th hole in the final round of last year’s U.S. Open, Photo credit: USA TODAY Sports
“What I’m feeling is that there’s such a difference in the way I view the few major champions that have won all four, the guys that have won all four, I view in a different regard,” he said, noting how “fortunate and honored” he was to be among those who’ve won almost a handful.
“That’s great, but it would mean a lot to me ‑‑ I would look at myself, I would look at my career, which is all I care about, in a whole different light if I were able to get that fourth one,” he said.
Pretending that being oh-so-close to victory and then falling short was anything other than agonizing is just not part of Phil’s DNA.
“Part of it is being honest with it, being honest about it,” he said, “because if you try to deny it and try to act like it doesn’t hurt and that it’s no big deal, well, you’re just lying to yourself.”
"I would look at my career in a whole different light if I were able to get that fourth one." -Mickelson, on completing the career grand slam
For sure, Merion’s outcome “stung,” and Mickelson needed a few days to come to grips with it. Then, family life took over and saved the 42-time PGA Tour winner from feeling even sorrier for himself.
“You just do what you have to get over it,” he said. “We had a great trip planned in Montana, so I only got three days in bed before I had to get up and do something.”
Rather than sit and stew, Mickelson got out of his own head enough to focus on the positive and win the Open Championship a month later.
“I was able to come to the conclusion is that I’m playing really good golf and don’t let it affect the potential outcome of some of the upcoming events,” he said. “That’s what really got me to refocus on the future and the upcoming majors and at the British.”
Mickelson, who’ll take on Jordan Spieth and Bill Haas at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village starting at 1:05 p.m. ET, continued to maintain that he had so far been unable to “get a tee time” to practice at Pinehurst. Not to worry, though -- he apparently was able to wheedle his way onto the track for practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday.
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