Mickelson plays down grand slam chances

Masters champion Phil Mickelson is doing what all good golfers do – taking it one shot at a time, one round at a time and one major at a time.

But having won the US PGA Championship at Baltusrol last August and now the first major of this season at Augusta, Mickelson knows what everyone is going to be talking about heading into the US Open at Winged Foot in June.

Can he match a feat that only Tiger Woods has ever accomplished and hold all four major trophies at the same time?

The left-hander’s reaction to the first question on the subject was the sensible one.

“Let’s settle down Grand Slam talk and stuff,” said Mickelson, proud owner now of two green jackets and three majors.

“The Tiger Slam is just one of the most incredible feats in the game – that and Bobby Jones’ Grand Slam (the Open and amateur titles of America and Britain in 1930) and Ben Hogan in ‘53 winning three of the four.

“I’m just having so much fun playing and competing in these tournaments and trying to focus in and get my best game out.”

Imagine the scenes on the Open Championship’s return to the Royal Liverpool Club in July, though, if Mickelson can add the US Open in two months’ time.

And there is no reason to think he cannot.

The 35-year-old’s coach Rick Smith hailed his closing 18 holes this weekend as “the most perfect round he’s played in a major” and Mickelson himself was thrilled to have handled the toughened-up, stretched-out Augusta National better than anybody else.

Asked if he was a fan of the changes to six of the holes – they turned it into the second-longest course in major history – there was no surprise that he answered in the affirmative.

And while there were criticisms before from the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer the powers that be can now point to the leaderboard and claim that what they set out to do has been achieved.

Four of golf’s ‘Big Five’ – Mickelson, Woods, Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els – finished in the top nine. And the only one missing, Els, still looks to have some way to go in his recovery from the knee injury which required surgery last summer.

But not only that. Runner-up Tim Clark and Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal, whose brilliant best-of-the-week 66 on Sunday lifted him into a tie for third, are not bombers of the ball and that showed it is not purely and simply a big hitter’s paradise.

Just maybe, though, the club officials will reflect on the fact that there was just one birdie all weekend at the 505-yard par-four 11th. The hole struck fear into every player in the field.

But nothing changed in one sense. The Masters is one of the most gripping spectacles in the whole of sport.

No other venue has the same capacity to see what happened to Rocco Mediate in the final round. Joint leader and dreaming of glory one minute, thrown into a nightmare the next as he ran up an horrendous 10 on the par-three 12th.

For two days 54-year-old Ben Crenshaw turned back the clock. But then his age caught up with him – he finished with rounds of 78 and 79 to be last of those who made the cut.

Not that 12 over par was any disgrace. Sergio Garcia was only two ahead of him and Luke Donald four, and they are both world top 10 players.

Fred Couples threatened to become the event’s oldest champion. That distinction still belongs to Nicklaus, but it would have been fascinating to see what happened if Couples, two behind at the time, had made his four-footer for birdie on the 14th rather than three-putting it for bogey.

Mickelson’s seven-under aggregate matched that of Mike Weir in 2003, but there has been nothing higher since Nick Faldo won the first of his three titles at five under in 1989.

And to achieve it Mickelson produced a performance he said he would cherish forever.

Not so Woods. Third is not terrible, of course, but the world number one was disgusted with how he putted in his closing 70.

He missed eagle chances of six and eight feet at the 13th and 15th and three-putted the 11th and 17th.

The magic for once was not there – and nor will the putter be when he next plays judging by his comments afterwards.

Mickelson has now won three of the last nine majors and Woods two. The overall count is 10-3, but every sport needs a rivalry at the top and golf now has it.