Phil plans more Major thrills

Much like Phil Mickelson’s relationship with the Majors, his first Open Championship success last year came after years of failure.

Now he’s finally got over the finish line, the American left-hander is determined to return to the winner’s enclosure.

It took Mickelson 46 Majors before he eventually realised his true golfing potential and won the 2004 Masters, aged 33. Three more Major titles followed over the next six years as Lefty played a belated catch-up with his great rival Tiger Woods, but it would take a further three years before he managed to get his hands on a Claret Jug at the 20th attempt.

He did it in spectacular style as well, taming Muirfield 12 months ago with a final 18 holes of magic, a closing 66 that matched the round of the championship and was completed with the best two shots of that week, brilliant approach efforts on the penultimate and final holes to help engineer a three-shot victory.

That was a round Mickelson has had plenty of reason to replay over and over again in the intervening months whenever he gets the chance or is in need of “a little bit of a confidence boost”, as he described it yesterday at Royal Liverpool.

“It obviously hasn’t been a good year,” Mickelson said. “Normally I would be discouraged or frustrated, but I’m just not. I’m not frustrated and I’m not discouraged. I feel like I’ve had some good breakthroughs in some areas.

“I haven’t had the results, I know I haven’t played well. But the parts feel a lot better than the whole right now.

“And I don’t know when it will all click together. I don’t know if it will be this week. I don’t know if it will be in three weeks or a month or when, but it should be soon.

“I feel like it’s really close to being good. And rather than trying to force it or press the issue, I’m going to be patient.”

Mickelson arrived in Hoylake, where he finished 13 shots behind Woods in a tie for 22nd at the 2006 Open here, following an 11th-place finish at the Scottish Open, the tournament he won 12 months ago en route to that first Claret Jug. It leaves the world No 13 with just one top-10 finish this year, but there is nothing as comforting to someone lacking in form or confidence than the knowledge one has already been down the road to success and that is certainly the case with the Open.

“It’s a different feeling for me coming over here now having won this tournament. The way I felt was, am I ever going to come through and break through and play well on links golf and win an Open Championship?

“Now I know I can. I’ve done it and it takes pressure off. But more than that, when I arrive as a past champion, it just feels terrific.

“The memories and emotions will last a lifetime, I’d like to do it again. I’d like to create new memories and new opportunities. And it almost motivates me to work harder and practice even more because I know there’s a finite amount of time.

“As I look back on my life, I look back on the highlights of last year’s tournament, and it brings out the same emotions that I experienced at the time. And it is the same with Bones [caddie Jim Mackay], too. So I’d like to create some more, if possible.”

The possibility of doing so is the great conundrum, particularly with Mickelson struggling to find his putting and short-iron game in addition to his coping with a form of arthritis that requires twice-daily physiotherapy just to stay on the course. It all might seem like the beginning of the end for a 44-year-old with little left to prove, but Phil the Thrill is nothing if not positive.

“ Every day I have to start my day on a physio ball or on a TRX band and strengthen my back and core and legs and so forth to make sure I’m able to withstand the practice sessions. But I feel better than I have in a long time.

“The other area [aside from putting] that I’ve struggled with is my short irons, which has always been a strength; I haven’t been sharp. Last week they started to come back. So when you combine that, the scoring clubs, short iron, putter, it’s going to lead to a bit of an off-year.

“But I know that would be the assumption, but I believe that the next five years are going to be some of the best in my career.”