Phil Mickelson is a Hall of Famer by any measure. He’s done just about everything in an iconic career that still has plenty of miles on it. But his white whale is the U.S. Open. It is the only remaining box to check for a career slam, a feat that only five players have completed in the history of golf. Given his history in the event — a record six runner-up finishes — Phil and the national championship have developed a unique, tortured bond and one that we look forward to re-examining every June.
Phil Mickelson will skip the U.S. Open at Erin Hills, according to report
The Lefty is always the most compelling storyline at a U.S. Open but he’s going to take a pass this year for family reasons.
This year, however, Phil is saying the hell with it. He’s not even going to show up to Erin Hills in less than two weeks, telling Karen Crouse of The New York Times on Saturday that he was not going to play the U.S. Open.
Update: Phil did address this issue publicly after his round, saying he has not officially withdrawn from the U.S. Open but will not be playing unless something “unforeseen” happens. He categorized “unforeseen” as either the graduation getting re-scheduled for some reason or the first round of the U.S. Open getting pushed into Friday because of bad weather. Those are the two likeliest of the last-ditch hopes.
Phil has a perfectly acceptable reason, telling Crouse he wants to attend his daughter’s high school graduation, which overlaps with the Thursday first round at Erin Hills. Mickelson, whose birthday almost always falls during U.S. Open week and turns 47 this June, has had family issues come up during the season’s second major in the past.
We all remember tracking Air Phil just a few years ago at Merion, where Mickelson private jetted back and forth from Philly to San Diego and back again for his daughter Amanda’s 8th grade graduation. If he follows through on the plan he told Crouse, then there will be no negotiating or jetting around Amanda’s now high school graduation. Coincidentally enough, it was also Amanda that was born just after Phil’s first of six runners-up back in 1999 at Pinehurst. Mickelson was at the ready that week to withdraw should his wife, Amy, go into labor.
Given what a U.S. Open win would mean to his career, and the fact that there’s only so many left for him, it’s a bit of a stunner to just have Phil no-show. But he does always push his “family first” mantra and there’s also probably a little bit of a subtle eff you to the USGA and the way they set up their most prestigious championship, which Phil regularly takes jabs at and is now without one of its biggest headliners and most compelling annual stories.
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