Risk-taker Mickelson hoping to end heartache

There are two sets of names that will bear down on Phil Mickelson at Pinehurst No. 2 tomorrow as he tees off in a US Open for the 24th time.

On one shoulder will be the greats of the game, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. On the other, Payne Stewart, Woods again, Retief Goosen, Geoff Ogilvy, Lucas Glover and Justin Rose.

And before Mickelson celebrates his 44th birthday on Monday, the American will have hoped to have joined the first and deemed the latter list an irrevalance.

Because the late Stewart and company are the men that have proved the thorns in Mickelson?s side this 15 years, the sextet that have relegated him to second place in his national championship and denied him the one title that remains elusive in an otherwise Hall of Fame career.

Six times Mickelson has finished runner-up at the US Open in 23 appearances, each one a dagger in the heart of a brilliantly gifted golfer for whom success has been commonplace elsewhere.

After all, the left-hander has five major championships on his resumé among the 42 career victories, having won the Masters three times and the PGA and the Open Championship once each.

Yet the US Open hasn?t just eluded him, it has toyed with the man, mocked him almost and forced him to suffer the heartache of second place those six cruel times.

He might have known this was a tournament destined to torment him when on the same course he will play this week, Stewart holed a par-saving putt from 18 feet at the 72nd hole to beat him by one stroke in 1999.

It will have been confirmed to him in 2006 when Ogilvy took advantage of his mental meltdown down the stretch at Winged Foot and by the time Rose beat him to it at Merion last year, the sporting world didn?t sympathise with Mickelson, it pitied him.

Not that he cares. His six runners-up cheques have earned him just $11 shy of $3.4 million (?2.5m), plenty of reasons to look on his near-misses as positives, particularly if, as was the case last time around, it spurred him on to success in the Open as he charged to victory at Muirfield.

That completed the third quarter of a modern majors career grand slam and so he arrived at Pinehurst within reach of joining those greats, on a par with Hogan and Sarazen, Nicklaus and Player and his contemporary Woods.

Only a person with nerves of steel would not permit themselves a little glimpse towards Sunday evening and joining that illustrious quartet by finally getting over the line in his national championship.

?I try not to,? Mickelson said, ?because I don?t want to get ahead of myself. But it?s only natural that it?s going to. Occasionally I?ll catch myself, but I really try not to, because I really just want to focus on what I need to do to get ready for Thursday.?

If there is one thing to temper Mickelson?s chances of completing his lifelong ambition it surely lies in his putting and the American spent yesterday morning continuing his work with short-game coach Dave Stockton as he adjusts to a claw putting grip. It might smack of desperation but Mickelson has always been prepared to take risks on the golf course and he is comfortable with taking a leap into the unknown.

?I?ve done some crazy stuff, but one of the dumbest things I?ve done which actually never came back to bite me was in the 2002 US Open at Bethpage, I changed irons after the first round. And different lofts on the irons. And Bones (caddie Jim Mackay) and I had a heck of a time for the next 54 holes trying to club.

?But, you know, you?ve got to take some risks sometimes. If that?s what it takes, I?m willing to take any risk and be accountable either way. If it comes out great, perfect. And if it doesn?t, it was my own decision, which is why Bones and I have always had a great relationship; just because I ask his opinion, I don?t expect him to be right, I can live with my own mistakes.?