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Was that? Is this the last time we’ll see Phil Mickelson at a US Open? Is this our last picture of the southpaw in his national championship falling off the ninth green quietly after three putts from inside 2 feet per bogey on his last hole at Winged Foot?
If this was his 29th and final appearance in his national championship, Phil the Thrill deserved better than this. He deserved a crowd that appreciated every wandering unit the way Hoylake’s fans managed to lift Seve Ballesteros’ spirits. He deserved to have his prodigious New York fan club flank all sides of the last hole to stand up and spice up his latest walk the way the crowd did for Arnold Palmer at Oakmont and Jack Nicklaus at Pebble Beach, St Andrews. , Valhalla and Augusta.
Mickelson deserved a hero’s sendoff, even if he never managed to lift that US Open trophy over his head.
For more than a quarter century, Mickelson has been arguably the richest leading man in the history of the US Open. Tragic hero. Comic relief. Sentimental favorite. Petulant villain.
We’ve marked his march from adolescent freak in 1990 to senior gamer with annual birthday serenades in normal years. We have been able to share prayers for the recovery from cancer of his wife, Amy, and his mother, Mary, at Bethpage.
We have watched their oldest daughter, Amanda, grow out of sight but never out of mind every June. From the baby beeper on the eve of her birth in Pinehurst in 1999 to the cross-country trip for her high school graduation awards on Merion Eve in 2013 to skipping 2017 in Erin Hills entirely for her graduation from secondary school.
Phil Mickelson has been the history of the US Open every year. His long saga of unrequited wishes has delivered plots more consistent than a soap opera.
A record six times in a 15-year span (40%) from 1999 to 2013, he took the silver medal as runner-up. Her résumé of anguish is remarkable to anyone, much less a guy whose driving precision has never exactly been certified by the USGA.
His companions even marveled at his Sisyphus determination.
“Of all the events, you would think this would be the (biggest) where he would have the least chance of winning because of the way he has conducted it for most of his career.”
Tiger Woods once said about his longtime rival. “But that short game of his is off the charts. … He’s done some of the toughest pairs you have to do to win this tournament, he’s just not (won) it. ”
Too often, Mickelson had to smile and bear his fate with unimaginable grace. He smiled into Payne Stewart’s hands as he headed to the parenthood at Pinehurst. He regretted his luck at Shinnecock. He called himself an “idiot” on Winged Foot. He admitted “distress” in Merion.
He even laughed at his second run as a runner-up at Bethpage Black when a three-way tie for second place in 2009 left the USGA within a distance of the silver medals needed for the awards show. “I’m fine,” Phil said.
With the possible argument of the heirs of Sam Snead, there is no more compelling tragic figure in the history of the US Open than Mickelson. His six losses have been as epic in scale as the five great wins of his career.
Aside from 2002 at Bethpage, when he (and everyone else) never really threatened Woods on Sunday before finishing three strokes behind, there was always a late moment of drama where everyone was sure we would write about Mickelson’s win. . Those near misses are in every golf writer’s save chain.
In 1999 at Pinehurst, despite carrying a pager that could have called him home to be by Amy’s side for the birth of their first child at any time, Mickelson led by one with three holes to play before Payne Stewart sank him. with three in a row. total putts 55 feet.
In 2004 at Shinnecock, Mickelson birdied three of the four holes to take a one-stroke lead with two to play Retief Goosen before double bogeying from a rock-impeded lie in the bunker on the 17th par 3 hole.
In 2006 at Winged Foot, despite fighting his grip that he once found literally the bottom of a garbage can, he held a one-shot lead on the 18th tee before hitting a tent, tree and bunker on the on the way to a shocking double bogey that left the trophy to Geoff Ogilvy.
“I’m still in shock from doing that,” he said afterward. “I just can’t believe I did that. I’m such an idiot. “
In 2009 at Bethpage, with his wife’s recent breast cancer surgery on his mind, he held the lead again at the end of the final round after taking the eagle at No. 13 only to bogey at No. 15 and 17 to finish. two behind Lucas Glover.
Then in 2013 at Merion, he jumped to a portion of the lead again Sunday with a chip eagle at No. 10 before going off the rails with a bogey at short par 3 13 en route to another runner-up numbed by Justin Rose. . Mickelson called it “heartbreaking” and “probably the hardest for me.”
You have always had trouble quantifying your pain. Merion says. Her former caddy, Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, says Shinnecock was the hardest to swallow. Most observers can’t avoid the gruesome finish at Winged Foot when he was one hole away from winning a third consecutive major.
In every case except the moment Tiger beat him, he’s generally been his worst enemy – the poster of what Phil will do from the greatest agony. In his six runner-up attempts, Sunday has been his downfall. Mickelson averaged 68.5 (9 under) in the early rounds, 70.66 (+4) on Fridays, 70.16 (+1) on Saturdays and a crushing 71.50 (9 more) on Sundays. Worse still, he played the final three holes Sunday in a team pair of 9 over after playing the first 15 in a team pair.
Mickelson has had six attempts to complete his career since his shock win at the 2013 Open Championship in Muirfield, just a month after his heartbreak with Merion. The first attempt was at Pinehurst, which seemed like the perfect place for a fairy tale ending.
“It would really mean a lot to me … to do it right here where Payne and I had this moment where we talked about parenting, but he also talked about winning future US Opens,” Mickelson said then, when he still had 44 years. .
Time, however, is cruel and undefeated. For all our hopes that familiar and comfortable places like Pinehurst, Shinnecock, Pebble Beach, and Winged Foot could rekindle one last bit of genius, it might never appear again. It’s long past the age of Hale Irwin, who at 45 in 1990 became the oldest US Open winner the same week Mickelson turned 20 and claimed as an amateur in his senior championship debut.
Now 50, this week always seemed like his last reasonable hope. Despite winning comfortably on his PGA Tour Champions debut a few weeks ago, Mickelson came to Winged Foot without confidence. He was insane off the tee for two days, increasingly frustrated and outspoken as he struggled to find his game.
“I do not know what to say. It’s a disappointing day, ”was his brief assessment of the 79 on Thursday.
On Friday, after blowing a birdie opportunity from 1 foot, 10 inches at last, he left the field without comment. After three decades of pushing that rock up the hill from the USGA, he ran out of things to say.
He’s still number 53 in the world and he’s still Phil Mickelson, so qualifying again in 2021 for the 30th US Open in his hometown of Torrey Pines isn’t out of the question. He could also come back as the US Senior Open champion. While a 36-hole sectional qualifier is a great question, he certainly deserves at least one special exemption, although he insists he would reject it without succeeding on merit.
Mickelson has never quit, even when it seems obvious to everyone that his window of opportunity has closed. But as he said last year when he couldn’t win the second time when it mattered most in 2019 at Pebble Beach, “I don’t know what else to say. It’s not that I’m going to stop trying. “
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