Mickelson’s mountain to climb at the Hills

PHYSICALLY a little out of shape, beaten up mentally after throwing away a winning position in the Scottish Open, missing the cut in the British Open Championship and finishing way down the field in last week’s Bridgestone WGC at Akron, not many would be prepared to wager the mortgage on Phil Mickelson for a second US PGA victory here this week.

Few are as gifted in every facet of the game than Mickelson. Equally, it is fair to say that most would have made more use of his God-given talent.

Two Masters green jackets and one PGA just doesn’t seem enough and while he is still no more than 37 years of age, “Lefty” has looked so dishevelled on the golf course of late that you begin to strongly doubt whether he can improve on this record before it’s too late.