America expects after Mickelson takes the lead

YOU only had to watch and listen to appreciate just how much the New York public adored Phil Mickelson.

The amphitheatre that is the 18th green at Shinnecock Hills made for an amazing scene around lunchtime yesterday when King Phil strode majestically through the milling throng on his way to a second round 66 in the 104th US Open and a halfway total of six under par that leaves him tied for the lead with Japan's Shegeki Maruyama and perfectly poised to add his national title to the Masters green jacket he captured in April.

This is a wonderful situation for the gifted left hander to find himself in given how much he had been derided in some quarters for his previous failures. The whole of America will go mad if he comes out on top on Sunday night and God only knows what will happen should he come to Royal Troon next month with the Grand Slam still in his sights. There is, of course, a very long way to go yet and just because he made the vital breakthrough at Augusta National doesn't necessarily mean he has ridded himself of the demons of doubt that devoured him on so many occasions in the past.