The Open: Phil Mickelson’s persistence rewarded

IT’S A funny old game. When he missed the cut at Lytham 12 months ago, Phil Mickelson was lost for words (he said so himself five times during a four-minute interview) and seemed further away than he had ever been to winning an Open Championship.

Phil Mickelson was beaming as he lifted the Claret Jug at Muirfield. Picture: Ian Rutherford

His game appeared to be in freefall, the left-hander leaving Lancashire lying 17th in the world rankings before slipping to 22nd earlier this year.

Now, not only is the Claret Jug in the clutches of the 43-year-old after becoming a links legend by recording back-to-back wins in Scotland in the space of a week, but he has also climbed to world No 2 – 0.02 points above Rory McIlroy – for the first time since September 2010, the year Mickelson had no less than ten opportunties to topple his nemesis, Tiger Woods, from the top spot.

With a 4.09 points cushion, Woods’ position there is safe for the time being but, if the Mickelson magic continues in his next two events – the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and the USPGA Championship – then big Phil will not be far away from being world No 1 for the first time in his career.

Having now gone 17 majors without winning, it is a mystery to many how Woods is currently ranked as the world’s top player, though, in fairness, he was the game’s hottest player earlier in the year when landing four titles in seven starts on the PGA Tour.

On current form, though, there is no doubting Mickelson, now with five major titles to his name, is top dog. In his last seven tournaments, he has won twice and finished in the top three on three other occasions, including runner-up to Justin Rose in the US Open at Merion, where he led going into the final round. “At the age of 43, Phil is playing the best golf of his career,” remarked the American’s trusty caddie, Jim “Bones” Mackay in the aftermath of Mickelson covering the last six holes in four-under, closing with a sensational 66 and winning the 142nd Open Championship by three shots after trailing by five heading into the final day at Muirfield.

“Phil always comes to win, but you can only do so a percentage of the time. He missed the cut at Royal Lytham last year and it hurt because he had come so far, played the Scottish Open the week before to prepare and then didn’t get it done. But he dearly wanted an Open. He just loves Scotland and I can tell you that it meant the world to him to win the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart the week before The Open. That’s an amazing tournament to have on his CV. I’ve got to be honest, I love the place myself and that makes The Open win even more special because it came in Scotland.”

Only twice in two decades – Troon in 2004 then Royal St George’s two years ago – had Mickelson managed to get himself in the mix in the game’s oldest major before hitting the jackpot on Sunday, the win adding to three Masters titles (2004, 2006 and 2010) as well as a USPGA Championship victory in 2005. Anyone recalling how shell-shocked he looked at Lytham after carding a second-round 78 – his fourth-worst 18-hole score in 68 rounds at The Open – to finish 11-over-par, or how he played the opening two holes in the first round at Castle Stuart just under a fortnight ago, would have had trouble envisaging what Mickelson went on to do at Muirfield. His strategy at the tenth in Inverness, where he teed off, was way too bold in the bouncy conditions and cost him an opening bogey at one of the easiest holes on the course. His tee shot at the next, a short par-3, was woefully wide and, almost certainly, would have been punished severely at any of the devilish par-3s at Muirfield.

But, after escaping with a par thanks to an exquisite bunker shot, he eagled the 12th and, apart from one poor shot that cost him a double-bogey 6 at the first in the final round, Mickelson never put another foot wrong in Inverness until he almost paid dearly (a flash of genius made amends in his play-off with Braden Grace) for a momentary concentration lapse on the 72nd green. At Muirfield, his only two double-bogeys both came in the second round and, though there’s no doubting the final thrust that produced birdies at the 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th was decisive, equally important was the fact he’d covered the previous 14 holes (including the 17th and 18th on Saturday) in one-under with only one bogey in that stretch.

“One of my favourite things about working for Phil is, when we see something in his game that is not up to par, he goes home and fixes it,” added Mackay, who has been on Mickelson’s bag for more than 20 years. “As everyone knows, when he played links golf initially, it was not good enough. He had to go home and take steps to remedy that and he did. Did he ever think about giving it up? No way. Phil’s not built that way. It’s just not in his DNA. Last week at Castle Stuart, he began taking the steps to remedy the links situation and he took the ultimate step at Muirfield.”

It was a performance that left Mackay in tears as the pair walked off the 18th green, a curling 12-foot birdie putt having all but secured that Claret Jug success for Mickelson even though there were still four groups out on the course. “I was pretty emotional,” he admitted. “I have worked for the guy for 21 years and he played the greatest round of his life in the final round of the biggest tournament in the world to win The Open at Muirfield. I don’t take that statement lightly. I’ve seen Phil do some amazing things through the years, but 66 on the final day of The Open. I was, how can I say, very happy.”

Even happier after a surprise call asking him to join Mickelson, wife Amy and their three children on the Open champion’s private jet on Sunday night to fly home to San Diego.

“Phil was tired and wanted to go home and share the triumph with his parents,” reported Mackay. “The plan was for me to have a night of celebration here in Scotland, until I got a message on my phone about an hour after I had left the golf course.

“I opened the text and it read: ‘Hey man, why don’t you come fly home with me?’ It was a case of filling the car (with petrol) as quickly as I could to fly home with Phil and the family. That just tells you everything about him and the guy he is.”