Phil Mickelson Shows He Remains a Major Contender

Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements

WHILE we all admired the play of Dustin Johnson, Tommy Fleetwood, Thomas Pieters and Rory McIlroy in Mexico, there was one performance that stood out head and shoulders above all others.

Phil Mickelson somehow managed to finish the week just four shots behind Johnson and he did so with a display of recovery golf the likes of which has seldom been seen. The 46-year-old American has always been wayward from the tee but over 72 holes in this World Golf Championship event he could barely find a fairway - anybody else would have struggled to break 80. But not Lefty.

Most remarkable of all was his astonishing round of 68 on Saturday when he hit just four fairways. Now let's be clear about something - Chapultepec is a proper golf course, a real test, with 500-plus yard par fours and a par five measuring way in excess of 600 yards. And almost every hole is guarded on both sides of the fairway by huge trees, so you miss the short stuff and you are going to find yourself in terrible trouble.

But time after time, Mickelson conjured recovery shots that were scarcely credible, threading his ball through tiny gaps, producing huge slices or hooks around tree limbs to find the putting surface and giving himself the opportunity to produce the most incredible birdies. And when he couldn't find the green, he depended on that stunning short game of his to get up and down and save par.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW0XnPN_Neg

Even at his very best, Seve Ballesteros would have struggled to emulate the golf that Mickelson produced to keep his game and score on track.  The American has not won a tournament since he triumphed at Muirfield in The Open Championship in 2013, but he keeps coming close. Nobody who saw it will ever forget the golf he played when coming second to an inspired Henrik Stenson at Royal Troon last year.

But how long can he keep playing like this? Just imagine if he could find as many fairways as Johnson or McIlroy. It must be a matter of huge frustration to him, but the crowds love him. And no wonder. He finds himself in places that all club golfers know only too well. Heavens above, he even managed to get free relief when a wayward tee shot finished next to a sprinkler in the trees that most people knew nothing about. He plays with a smile on his face and will stand for hours singing autographs. No matter how poorly he has scored, you will never find Mickelson walking away from his media obligations either, unlike many of his fellow players.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQXxqz9FP9c

There is no doubt that he has it within him to win at least another major, and how fitting it would be if he could finally land the US Open, where he has been second six times. Part of us wants him to leave the driver in the bag, but the other part of us wants him to keep hitting the ball to uncharted territory, just so that we can see him produce another miracle escape, another mind-boggling birdie.