Mickelson hitting top gear as he hunts sixth major
Mickelson, 43, is still riding high on the wave of emotion he experienced from lifting the Claret Jug last month, when a scintillating final-round 66 at Muirfield secured The Open Championship and the third leg of a clean sweep of all four majors.
Only the US Open, in which he has placed second a record six times, remains elusive but the Californian left-hander will tee off at Oak Hill in upstate New York tomorrow believing he is playing the best golf of his career and that while he has set no specific number of major wins as a target, repeating his 2005 PGA success and becoming the first to win back-to-back majors since Dubliner Pádraig Harrington did the same double in 2008 will do just fine.
“Right now, just six (major wins), that’s all I’m thinking about,” Mickelson said yesterday. “I feel as though I started to play my best golf in the last four or five, six months. I feel like I’ve keyed in on two areas that I’ve struggled with for years, which is my putting and off the tee.
“I feel very confident in my ability to get the ball in play off the tee and I feel very confident in my ability on the greens now; where I’ve turned weaknesses into strengths, I believe, and that serves me well in major championships.
“I feel like now the major championships are possibly the easiest ones for me to be in contention and maybe even win, because of those weaknesses becoming strengths.”
There is no doubt that Mickelson’s victory at Muirfield has meant more to him than any of his previous four major victories, the 2004, 2006 and 2010 Masters and the 2005 PGA, or indeed winning five in total and he described his long-awaited links success as a dream come true.
“I think the British Open really changed some of my perception of myself as a player,” he said. “I think that had I won another green jacket, that would not have done the same thing as what winning the Claret Jug has done.
“In my mind it is an accomplishment in my career that makes more of a complete player for the simple reason that that style of golf, I have not had that much success with over the past 20 years that I’ve played professionally.
“To have finally won that and break through and play some of my best golf ever in my final round, that kind of changes the way I view myself and my game, more so than just a major that I had already won.”
Mickelson’s Open victory sent him above Rory McIlroy in the world rankings to number two, rekindling talk of his long-standing rivalry with top dog Tiger Woods as the pair prepare to go toe-to-toe once more this week.
Both are in flying form, Mickelson having won the Scottish Open in the week before his Open victory while Woods added a fifth victory of the year to his resumé last Sunday with a commanding performance at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, although Lefty was keen to mention the year’s other two previous major winners as noteworthy contenders.
“I think that having Tiger win last week is great, because I can’t remember the last time somebody won the week before a major and then went on and won,” Mickelson joked.
“Having him back, having him play well, having him win like he’s won this year is great for the game of golf. And the work that he’s been doing with (swing coach) Sean Foley has been noticeable and been paying off and he’s not having the shots that he’s had for a few years.
“He’s playing solid and he played great last week. I thin it’s great for the game to have him back playing well.
“I think it’s also great for the game to see guys like Adam Scott and Justin Rose come out and win major championships early on; guys that have incredible games and winning, and now have won golf’s biggest events.
“That just makes it exciting, because we have a number of players that can really create a lot of interest in this final major championship of the year.”
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