Phil Mickelson left with mixed emotions

It is one of those questions you never hope you have to answer but when asked if his Royal Troon disappointment was worse than the numerous others in his long career, Phil Mickelson responded with dignified good grace.

It helps, of course, that he has actually won five major championships, only 13 of the game's greats have managed better.

Yet Mickelson, 46, had just played some of the best golf of his illustrious career, a bogey-free final-round 65, and still come up short to the magic of Henrik Stenson as the sixth major that would have tied him with Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino slipped from his grasp.

It will go down as yet another major championship runner-up finish, his 11th, and his 27th top-five major finish but that is not the statistic of an also-ran.

If he not won any majors it would be evidence of a nearly man. Instead, the left-hander edges past Arnold Palmer's 10-second places with only Jack Nicklaus, he of the 18 major victories, on 19 runner-up spots.

Mickelson has had his fair share of sporting heartbreak and tough breaks along the way in 96 major appearances, not least when the US Open went begging at Winged Foot in 2006 with a remarkable meltdown at the last to let in Geoff Ogilvy.

But back to the question, was this Troon defeat to Stenson easier to swallow because he played so well, or even tougher to take because of that?

“I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about that,” Mickelson said on Sunday night.

“I'm proud of the way I played. I don't look back on anything and say, I should have done this differently or that. I played what I feel was well enough to win this championship by a number of strokes and yet I got beat by three strokes.

"You know, it's not like I have decades left of opportunities to win majors, so each one means a lot to me. And I put in my best performance today. Played close to flawless golf and was beat.

So it kind of goes both ways. I'm happy with the way I played, but even more disappointed that it wasn't enough because you look back and say, what do I need to do?” At least Mickelson will relish the chance to quickly make amends, the inclusion of the Olympics in this year's schedule bringing forward the season's final major to next week when the PGA Championship, “Glory's Last Shot”, presents itself at Baltusrol in New Jersey, where the left-hander won the 2005 PGA title.

“It doesn't give me a chance to take time off, per se. It forces me to keep my game sharp. I'm going to head to New York early. I'll be there on Wednesday (to launch a Teachers Academy). I'll be there in Jersey City for that. It will give me a chance to go to Baltusrol for a few days prior and get ready this coming week as opposed to waiting until next week.

“I've got a lot of special memories going back to Baltusrol in '05, and that we don't have a month to wait between majors is a good thing for me. I'll try to look at the positives and take that into Baltusrol and keep my game sharp over the next week or two as opposed to going home and taking some time off.”

And perhaps pondering what might have been.