US Open: Phil Mickelson needs Torrey Pines win to complete Grand Slam - BBC News

Phil Mickelson spent four days defying those waiting for him to capitulate to win the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island last month and it was a victory to fuel hopes that he can, at long last, complete the career Grand Slam at this week's US Open.

On Thursday, a day after his 51st birthday, the American veteran begins his quest for the one major he has yet to win. He does so at Torrey Pines in his home city of San Diego - the anticipated script could not be better.

Despite winning the most recent major, the bookies view him as only a 50-1 shot, but the dream of becoming only the sixth man to complete the full set of golf's biggest prizes is very much alive.

Mickelson has been runner-up in America's national championship on six occasions. The first of those near misses came 22 years ago when Payne Stewart pipped him at Pinehurst before celebrating with his iconic fist pump standing on one leg.

Torrey Pines is best remembered for a different win on one leg - Tiger Woods' epic triumph of 2008 when he defied the pain of knee ligament damage and stress fractures to beat Rocco Mediate over 91 holes.

The spectacular cliff-top course knows how to stage great golfing stories and were Mickelson to land successive major titles at such an advanced age it could boast another extraordinary tale.

"It's a unique opportunity," Mickelson said. "It's in my backyard. I have a chance to prepare properly, and I wanted to put in the right work.

"So I've shut off all the noise. I've shut off my phone. I've shut off a lot of the other stuff so I can focus in on this week and give it my best chance to try to play my best."

The six times major winner is used to being centre of attention heading into a US Open. A Mickelson victory in this major is arguably the outcome that American golf fans want to see more than any other.

There has been so much heartache from the near misses, most notably in 2006 when the left hander blew it at Winged Foot in the same way as Scotland's Colin Montgomerie with a double bogey at the last, to hand the title to Australia's Geoff Ogilvy.

Most observers feared Mickelson's chances were already in the rear view mirror. Until his victory at Kiawah Island, he was only in the Torrey Pines field courtesy of a sentimental looking invitation from the United States Golf Association.

But, remarkably, Mickelson summoned sustained control and craft at Kiawah to hold off a modern day major specialist Brooks Koepka to become the oldest ever major winner.

Four weeks ago in South Carolina, Mickelson's famed short game was always going to be an asset. The run off areas and sandy wastes played to his skill set, but he also astonished with prodigious hitting from the tee.

Length will be a key asset this week, but so too will be the ability to cope with traditional thick US Open rough. "It is going to be a fun, very difficult challenge," Mickelson admitted.

But he is imbued with the self-belief that landed him a second Wanamaker Trophy last month.

"It's a big thing," he said referring to his confidence levels rather than the giant memento that goes with success at the US PGA.

"It's one thing when you are playing at a certain level but not getting the results. It's very frustrating and it's tough to be patient.

"But when you know that you're playing at a certain level and you are patient, it finally does click, like it did at the PGA. I felt like I had been playing at that level for a couple of months but I wasn't getting it out."

Mickelson is giving himself every chance of success and last week made an early recce of the course where he played many a junior competition as well as countless early season PGA Tour events, winning three times but not since alterations were made to the layout in 2001.

"Tiger's won here eight or nine times," he observed. "There's a proper way to play here to each pin, and I just have tried to do too much in the past.

"I felt like if I could learn the greens and know what a lot of the 30 and 40-foot putts do, then I don't have to try to get it into these tiny little shelves, and I can make easy pars and make a few of the longer putts."

Mickelson is the romantic choice but this US Open is also being played with a less savoury backdrop of the ongoing feud between defending champion Bryson DeChambeau and two-time champion Koepka.

For some observers it is becoming an increasingly tiresome spat that took a more sinister turn when Koepka took to social media to offer free beer to fans ejected from the recent Memorial Tournament for heckling his rival.

But it also provides a combative narrative between two genuine contenders more akin to the sort of hype that stimulates boxing title deciders rather than golf majors.

For both, hitting against traditionally the toughest set up in their sport should be sufficient distraction from taking shots at each other.

DeChambeau's prowess from the rough is a key asset but the notoriously bumpy poa greens may be less to his liking compared with the smooth bent grass of Winged Foot where he won his first US Open title last September.

Outside Mickelson, perhaps the most intriguing competitor is Jon Rahm, who has been in isolation since testing positive for Covid at the Memorial. He was forced to withdraw while holding a six stroke advantage after 54 holes.

It would be some story were he to bounce back and claim his first major success at the venue where he won his first PGA Tour title in 2017.

And it is worth remembering that the world number three's former coach and agent is Tim Mickelson, the man he credits with shaping his career.

Nowadays Tim caddies for his big brother and helped steer him home at Kiawah. There is scope for a Mickelson twist in more ways than one this week.

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