Mickelson’s first major?

COULD it finally be about to happen? Round one of the 85th US PGA Championship sees Phil Mickelson right up there after a sparking 66 suggesting this may well be the week when he rids himself of the tag that has haunted him for the past ten years — the greatest player in the world never to have won a major.

On a day when his nemesis Tiger Woods could do no better than 74, the gifted left-hander finished four under par in spite of picking up a couple of bogeys on his way around the superb 7,134yds, par 70 Oak Hill lay-out. There's a long way to go and even his greatest adherents fear he will find a way of tripping himself up somewhere between now and Sunday.

Furthermore, the pressure on Mickelson will be intense as the realisation dawns that he could hardly have set himself up any better. He has won 21 times on the US Tour. He captured the NCAA title twice and the US Amateur in 1990 during a glittering amateur career. He actually won on the Tour before turning professional. He picked up five titles before he was 25 joining Jack Nicklaus and Jerry Pate in doing so. He has picked up more than a million dollars a year for the last seven years.