KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Phil Mickelson has been smiling at galleries for so long that he somehow provides a personal touch on autopilot. A nod here, a thumbs-up there—all of it coming so naturally to him that he doesn’t need to give it any thought. This is efficient and necessary. Mickelson turns 51 next month. He needs to pour every drop of mental energy into his golf.
Mickelson finished a masterful final nine in his second round here at the PGA Championship, with a 22-foot birdie putt and a fist-pump. A small fist-pump. A Friday fist-pump. He is five-under for the tournament, in the lead as of this typing, but that just means he has to work harder. As one of his playing partners, Pádraig Harrington, said afterward, “He’s not here to make the cut…even 15th would be a disappointment. You know what? Even second would be a disappointment for Phil.”
Mickelson knows he has a long way to go, and he has spent a lot of time lately trying to figure out how to go a long way. He said a few weeks ago, “I know what my problem is. I’m not physically able to keep my focus. As I’ve gotten older, I have a hard time focusing.” On Friday afternoon, he said he has been playing 36 or even 45 holes a day, forcing himself to concentrate on each shot, so when he plays 18, “it doesn’t feel like it’s that much.” He also said he “might try to elongate the time that I end up meditating…I’m trying to use my mind like a muscle and just expand it.” He also kept his press conference unusually short, which is an extremely dangerous practice, of course. Dr. Rosenberg does not recommend it.
We don’t know if Mickelson will win or even stay in contention. Put that aside for a moment and appreciate a man who has spent seemingly every day of his 51 years looking for something new. Entropy gets his endorphins going. Action is his drug. Maybe that is one reason he has never won a U.S. Open, an event that frequently rewards monotony. Phil likes risk, creativity, the rush—an overnight flight, an unusual equipment setup, an innovative business deal, a Tuesday money game.
The Ocean Course is his kind of place. It’s long and windy and demands some of everything. Mickelson has been hitting a two-wood when he needs to keep the ball lower, out of the wind, and a driver when a hole presents a forced carry. You won’t see that combo in too many bags this week. In recent years, Mickelson has seemed too consumed with, as he famously says, “hitting bombs,” but as he stood in the ninth fairway here Friday, having out-driven the younger Jason Day, his decision to chase distance made sense. For two days, at least, Mickelson has done what the course demands, partly because being long gives him options.
“I’ve driven it well,” Mickelson said, “but I think the thing I’ve done the best is my brother [and caddie] Tim and I have done a really good job of judging the wind, judging the flight and picking clubs with the right flight to get the right distance, and so we’ve hit a lot of iron shots pin high.”
Mickelson’s whole career is a marvel, but his longevity is on the all-time great level. When Mickelson made his PGA Championship debut, Michael Jordan had only won three NBA titles, and when he won this event, LeBron James had only played two NBA seasons.
The year Mickelson turned pro, 1992, two of the players who won majors did so with persimmon drivers that were less than half the size of today’s bombers. Coming up in that era forced him to be more precise and creative than current stars must be. The Ocean Course is summoning some of those skills.
“I think he believes he can do it in these conditions,” Harrington said. “I think myself [and] Phil would find it easier to compete on this style of golf course in these conditions in a major tournament all the time. You can be patient in these courses, and obviously you’ve got to make a few birdies, but it suits somebody who is a player, somebody who is thinking.”
Mickelson is always thinking. Genes and work ethic surely have helped him last, but so has his insatiable desire for something different. He has managed to play professional golf for three decades without getting bored.
Boredom is not his enemy now. Fatigue and wayward tee shots are more likely to get him; as Day said Friday, “With Phil, you kind of get some off-the-map drives that make it very interesting, and he’s kept it very, very straight over the last two days.” Mickelson’s game has been an in-between phase for a while—too good for the Champions Tour (where he has dominated) but not good enough to contend in most PGA Tour events. He kept searching for ways to do it.
“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,” Mickelson said.
He is still one lousy swing away from slipping down the leaderboard. But Mickelson likes where he is—up near the top, 30 years on, exploring all the ways he might win a sixth major championship.
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