Phil Mickelson ‘having a blast’ as he rolls back the years at US PGA Championship

Fifty years old, ranked 115th in the world and 3-over par through the first six holes of the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson looked a lot closer to “phinished” than “phirst place.”

Fifty years old, ranked 115th in the world and 3-over par through the first six holes of the PGA Championship, Phil Mickelson looked a lot closer to “phinished” than “phirst place.”

Yet Phil stills thrills the swelling galleries at Kiawah’s Ocean Course, making 12 birdies over two rounds to walk off the course yesterday with the lead at 5-under 139.

“I’m having a lot of fun, and to play well, to know I’m playing well heading into the weekend, to be in contention, to have a good opportunity, I’m having a blast,” Mickelson said as he pursues a chance to become the oldest player to win a major championship. I’m excited for the weekend. This has been a lot of fun.”

Both rounds, Mickelson has overcome a slew of bogeys on his first nines to surge back with strong runs of birdies to shoot 70 and 69. Yesterday he finished on holes 2-9 with five late birdies in the heaviest winds of the morning.

“I suppose both days he started badly, both days he’s come back, and come back well, like 5-under par both times,” said Pádraig Harrington, who played with Mickelson both rounds and sits at even-par himself.

“In the position he is, I expect him to contend, and I wouldn’t put it past him being there at the end of the week, for sure. I think he has the bit between his teeth. I think he believes he can do it in these conditions, just like myself.”

Jason Day, the third PGA winner in the grouping with Mickelson and Harrington, said that Phil has avoided the big misses off the tee that have often plagued him — no easy feat in the constant wind that Kiawah has presented thus far.

“There were no foul balls,” Day said. “Usually with Phil you can get some pretty wide ones, and he kept it straight out in front of him. And his iron play was pretty tight.”

Mickelson said he and his caddie/brother, Tim Mickelson, have been able to read and judge the wind beautifully to pick the right clubs and trajectories to keep giving himself hole-high chances.

“I’ve been able to make some adjustments and not let a couple of the poor shots or poor strokes affect the overall round, which is something I haven’t been doing as well, certainly not as well as I’ve been doing the last two days,” he said.

Mickelson admits that as he’s aged, his concentration has a tendency to lapse. He’s failed to post a single top 20 finish in his last 24 PGA Tour starts. He has worked a few mental tricks to try “elongate my focus,” and it seems to be working so far under trying conditions on a windy seaside course.

“Physically I feel like I’m able to perform and hit the shots that I’ve hit throughout my career, and I feel like I can do it every bit as well as I have, but I’ve got to have that clear picture and focus,” he said.

Harrington, who will turn 50 himself this summer, understands the challenges Mickelson faces as an aging multiple major winner.

“Unfortunately as you gain experience, you lose innocence,” Harrington said. “There is a sweet spot on the way up when you’re gaining a bit of experience, and yet you have that innocence as you get older. Like myself and Phil, yeah, we have experience, but we have some scar tissue in there and we can overthink things at times.”

That scar tissue, however, doesn’t diminish the desire.

“He’s not here to make the cut. He’s not here to finish … even 15th would be a disappointment,” Harrington said. “You know what? Even second would be a disappointment for Phil. If you turned around to me this week and said to me now I’m going to finish 10th, I’d actually say no, because it doesn’t do my career any good. It doesn’t do Phil’s any good.”

Now Mickelson will have to extend his focus through a weekend with a stacked list of players under par and in pursuit on a course with no let-up.

When the morning wave finished yesterday, Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout were two shots behind at 3-under.

First-round leader Corey Conners suffered a volatile start to his second round with five bogeys in his first six holes but made a pair of late birdies to shoot 75 and remain in the top five with Gary Woodland, Kevin Streelman and Sungjae Im.