Another major question for Mickelson

For a man who will face so much media and spectator scrutiny this week at the 84th PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson looked and sounded as cool and collected as a player who is 0 for 41 in major championships could possibly be.

Many players in this week’s field of 156 at Hazeltine National Golf Club have never won a major title, but none has demonstrated the sublime skills and overall talent of Mickelson, who has won 21 times on the PGA Tour, including twice this season. Only Tiger Woods, with 33 victories since turning pro in 1996, has more tour triumphs among active players.

Still, until Mickelson, 32, breaks through in a major championship, the questions will continue to persist about his failure to prevail in any of the game’s four most important tournaments. Never mind, for example, that Ben Hogan, tied for third with nine career majors, didn’t win his first until the 1946 PGA when he was 34. Or that Mark O’Meara won the ’98 Masters and British Open at age 41, his only major victories.

Mickelson was asked today if he was getting weary of the “Best Player Never To Win a Major” questions. There were at least a half-dozen variations on that theme today during his pre-tournament news conference, and his answer was polite and diplomatic.

“There’s a very simple resolution to it,” he said with a smile. “If I get tired of it, I know how to fix it, and I’m trying to resolve that. For now, it’s just something I need to accept until I’m finally able to break through and win. And it’s okay.”

Certainly Mickelson has come close. A year ago in the PGA at the Atlanta Athletic Club, he was tied for the lead with three holes to play, then three-putted at the 16th green and lost by a shot. Champion David Toms laid up short of the pond guarding the 18th green at the 490-yard par-4 18th hole rather than risk a 210-yard second shot over water out of the rough. When Mickelson missed a 25-foot birdie putt, Toms made his 12-footer to save par and earn his own first major triumph.

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On Saturday, Toms also had made an improbable hole-in-one at the 243-yard 15th hole, hitting a 5-wood for the longest ace in the history of a major and the first that led to a victory. Toms also set a major aggregate score record of 15-under 265 on the par-70 course, and Mickelson’s 14-under 266 total also had never been bested either, little consolation for the runner-up.

Still, he insisted today that, “I think it would have been more frustrating had I not had a chance to win. I felt like I played very well that week and I feel that although I didn’t beat every single player in the field, I played to a level that I need to play at to win a major championship. Certainly, it was disappointing not to have won, but it would have been much more frustrating had I not had a chance to.”

There was similar frustration in the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. Mickelson also lost by a shot to the late Payne Stewart, who made a miracle save of par with a 35-foot putt at 16, took the lead with a birdie at 17, then made an 18-footer to save par at 18 for his second U.S. Open title.

Over his career, Mickelson has finished third in the Masters three times, including this year. He’s been runner-up twice in the U.S. Open, also this year at Bethpage. And he’s finished third and second in the PGA.

Overall, he’s had 15 top-10 finishes in the American majors, none in the British Open, where his best result was a tie for 11th in 2000 at St. Andrews. This year, he tied for 66th.

He has won twice this season on the PGA Tour, finished second twice and third four times with nine top-10 finishes and $3.68 million in earnings, second only to Woods by $1 million on the tour money list. And yet, because he’s 0 for 3 in 2002 majors, many of his fans consider this season disappointing.
Mickelson insisted today he does not.

“I think it would be wrong to put the whole outlook of a year based on four tournaments,” he said. “I’ve been trying to win major championships for a number of years, and if I had looked at a year on that premise, then it would be a disappointing career. I don’t look at it that way.

“I certainly would very much love to win this tournament . . . To have a truly great year, I would need to win here. I wouldn’t look on the year as a disappointment, because I feel like my game has progressed . . . as a stepping stone to the future. I do feel as though my game is ready, and I feel like I’m ready to come out on top — finally — in one of these tournaments.”

Mickelson also is well aware that if he can’t end his winless streak this week, the next major is seven months away.

“At Augusta, you’re trying to get your game sharp and contend, but you know you have something to fall back on” with three majors remaining on the schedule, he said. “It’s almost like playing best ball. You know that if you don’t make a birdie, your partner still may. You may win one of the last couple.

“The PGA Championship, you don’t have that feeling. The thought process going in is to give every ounce of energy to performing the best you can this week. It’s like the last mile in the marathon. You really push hard to get all you can out of your game.”

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