A winner in every way but one

Heartbreak.

That’s the word Phil Mickelson used — and it’s as good as any — to describe what he called “very possibly” his most difficult loss. In US Open history, he’s the symbol of the near miss, right down to the way his putts rimmed the cup again and again on Sunday in a final-round 74 to finish two shots back. Mickelson, always in second place.

Yet in golf lore, he’s something else completely.