Phil Mickelson feels no urgency to complete career grand slam at 2015 U.S. Open

Phil Mickelson, in the wake of a superb, 5-under 65 final-round performance in Memphis, sailed into Chambers Bay as amped up and confident as he has ever been about finally completing the career grand slam at his week’s U.S. Open.

And that’s saying something for Mickelson, who’s a glass-always-full kinda guy. Unlike some others in the field this week who have disparaged the track as “a farce,” Phil’s a fan of the Robert Trent Jones Jr. design, a positive mindset that could pay dividends come Sunday afternoon.

“I really like the golf course. I’ve already got a good game plan for it. Got to fine-tune and make sure my game is sharp,” Mickelson said after carding three of his eight birdies in his last five holes on Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.

For Mickelson (who turned 45 on Tuesday) — like another aging superstar, 39-year-old Tiger Woods — it’s all about peaking four times a year for the majors. Unlike Woods, though, Mickelson has a gaping hole on his resume where a U.S. Open W should be.

Fingers crossed for Lefty and his legion of fans that 2015, on the links-style Chambers Bay track that features generous fairways and would seem to favor wedge magicians, could be the year Mickelson hoists the U.S. Open hardware.

“Short game is going to be a big piece here, so I’ve got to get that sharp and my touch right,” Mickelson, who mastered links golf with his back-to-back wins at the Scottish and British Opens in 2013, said after playing a practice round on Tuesday. “It will be very challenging on and around the greens. I had a good week last week and I’m hoping to carry some of that momentum this week.”

Of course, Phil breaking through and cadging that elusive title has been the narrative for the past few Opens — especially last year, when the five-time major winner opined that he anticipated “too much” playing on the same Pinehurst track on which he lost to Payne Stewart in 1999.

This time around, Mickelson, who owns a record six runner-up finishes in his national championship, began 2015 after a rigorous offseason regimen of diet and exercise designed to shed pounds and add club head speed. Early returns were not promising — two missed cuts and no top-10s in his first seven PGA Tour starts — and it’s been a roller-coaster ride in his last five events, which include a T2 at the Masters, another MC at The Players, a T4 at Quail Hollow, and a T65 at the Memorial.

Then came last week’s T3 at Mickelson’s final tuneup before the second major of the men’s season. Some pundits believe this could be the opportunity Mickelson has needed to fill the space in his trophy room with that jug-eared silver souvenir.

“This is going to be the best chance Phil Mickelson has to win a U.S. Open in the rest of his career,” analyst Mark Rolfing, echoing what many have contended, said on Golf Channel on Tuesday. “The course sets up for him really well. He is situationally motivated these days. And I think this U.S. Open is the number one motivation for him, and I think this will be his best chance.”

Perhaps, but Mickelson claimed there was no pressure to win on Sunday.

“I don’t feel that sense of urgency,” he said on Tuesday. “It’s something I really would love to do is complete the career grand slam ... If I continue to do what I’ve done the last eight months or so, there’s no reason why I couldn’t play at a high level for a while.”

Either way, Mickelson has to be the sentimental favorite entering the week, and Chambers Bay would appear to offer him a prime shot at prevailing in the U.S. Open. For sure, Mickelson is leaving nothing to chance, heeding USGA executive director Mike Davis’ warning to get in some pre-Open week surveillance work and scouting the layout last month.

“There’s a lot of different ways to play shots to a lot of different pins, and if you play the highest percentage shot, it’s not a hard golf course,” he said Sunday. “But if you don’t know what that shot is, you play the wrong one, there’s a lot of penalty.”

Mickelson believes he and caddie Jim Mackay have conceived the appropriate scheme to maximize his shot at the title.

“I’m pleased that I’ve developed kind of a gameplan for each hole and how I’m going to get to certain pins,” said Mickelson, who believes he picked up a lot of “momentum and confidence” at TPC Southwind. “I saw a lot of progress this week as the week went on [in Memphis]. I’m feeling a lot better about heading into the U.S. Open after this week than I did after last.”