COLLAPSING INTO one of the plush leather chairs that grace the lavishly appointed locker room in Loch Lomond Golf Club's Rossdhu House last Friday afternoon, the world's second-best golfer, Phil Mickelson, is in fine fettle. Lunch has been had, he has completed the second 18 holes of the Barclays Scottish Open in a pretty nifty 67 strokes and he's even made a hole-in-one along the way.
Indeed, it was a round typical of this likeable individual's mildly erratic and sometimes eccentric golfing personality. All manner of wondrous shots, interspersed by occasional wayward descents into mediocrity, were served up for the sizeable crow
d drawn to watch one of modern golf's most compelling figures.
There was the ace at the short 5th, a narrow miss for what would have been a second successive eagle on the next green and, most memorably, a spectacular chip from the top-tier to the bottom tier of the 15th green, one that skidded and fizzed its way to no more than 18 inches from the cup. (And no, he didn't take a divot). Blessed by what are surely the softest and most educated hands in golf, the 38-year-old San Diegan is a genius with loft, his patented flop shot surely one of the most enduringly exciting spectacles in a game that has earned him just short of $50m in 15 years on the PGA Tour.
Those are impressive numbers, but his owning "only" three major victories is seen by many as maybe three short of "par" for someone of Mickelson's class.
"I think that when I started my career I would have expected to have won more than three majors by now," he admits. "But, after having not won any through 2003, to have picked up three in the last four and a half years is pretty good. Overall, though, I'm slightly under what I would have hoped for."
That he hasn't won more is perhaps the inevitable downside to his almost peerless ability to bring off the unlikeliest of shots. With such talent comes baggage, in the form of irresistible temptation to challenge tight pins and take on risky carries over hazards. While that sort of low-percentage game is just what Mickelson thrives on, it is also the sort of nonsense major championships tend to punish severely.
More than once "Lefty" has come a fearful cropper with Grand Slam victory in sight. Few who saw it will ever forget the "off-the-world" tee-shot that culminated, after much hacking and thrashing, in a double bogey and single-shot loss on the 72nd hole of the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot. It was a disaster, one that soon enough led to a switch from long-time swing coach Rick Smith to Butch Harmon.
Mickelson is one of the most loyal individuals in sport. He is, for example, surely the only player on tour who has been a pro for more than ten years and still has the same wife, agent and caddie he started out with. So it was a big decision to dispense with the services of Smith, a close friend, but one that had to be made on purely golfing grounds.
"My motivation in going to Butch was to improve the way I drive the golf ball," he confirms. "At Winged Foot, my driving was not where it needed to be. It wasn't just the last hole. I hit only two fairways that whole round. It was amazing I was still in contention really. If I had won it would have been an incredible feat given where I was hitting it.
"I'm not sure how much my style of play is a factor in my winning and losing. I don't feel like it's a compromise to play safe when there is a decision to be made. Many times, I have not chosen an overly aggressive play when I thought it was a mistake to do so. Where I have not compromised is when I feel like a different or unique club set make-up is required. I will always carry the clubs I feel will give me the best chance to win."
That willingness to experiment has produced a wide range of results. Carrying two drivers was a huge factor in his 2006 Masters victory; but dispensing with the longest club(s) in the bag at this year's US Open was a resounding failure.
"What I want to do is give myself the best chance to win," he explains, "even if I know I will be criticised if it doesn't come off. I accept that scrutiny as part of the job. I'm fine with it. It would be worse if I lived over here I'm sure!"
Speaking of which, strong rumour has it that Mickelson is seriously considering taking up membership of the European Tour in the near future. No definite decision has yet been taken apparently, but he has certainly been giving the matter some thought.
"I don't have any immediate plans to join, but I'm not ruling it out," he says. "It is becoming less and less of an effort for me to get to the required 11 events. This year I will play in Singapore and China, as well as here in Scotland. Add the four majors and the three World Golf Championships and I only need one more."
With his three children now that bit older and more able to travel, this new-found enthusiasm to walk through passport control will surely rid Mickelson of a criticism that has long dogged his career. Until he took the HSBC Championship in China at the end of last year, he had not won an event of any real substance outside his homeland.
"For years our tour had the strongest purses," he points out. "So why would I travel 5,000 miles to play for one-third of the money? That made no sense to me. Now, things have changed. The European Tour is getting stronger and not just in its players and strength of fields. The quality of the tournaments is rising all the time, to a point where there are already some international events that have equal or greater significance than those on the PGA Tour.
"Some of the tournaments worldwide are incredible. The 'Road to Dubai' is only the beginning. I believe there will be more. China is a massive market, which can only benefit the companies I represent."
Winning the Open for the first time wouldn't hurt Mickelson's marketability either, of course. In the company of his loyal bagman, Jim "Bones" MacKay, he has already spent three days working out his detailed strategy for Royal Birkdale this week.
"I'm really looking forward to this Open," he declares. "Birkdale is one of my fondest courses. It was there I played in my first Open back in 1991. It is in incredible shape, just immaculate. The greens were still pretty firm despite the rain. If it dries out and firms up over the next few days, as it is supposed to, it will be running hard and fast by next Thursday.
"I like those conditions; they will produce the right winner. The players today are so good and the equipment is so good that the temptation is always there to do something funky to the golf course to make par a legitimate score. I think winning scores should be between five and 12 under par. That is a hard test, a playable fair test. The best golfers in the world should be able to shoot that. That is what I would prefer. It would give the top players the chance to separate themselves."
The best of the best is one man Mickelson won't have to beat this week. In the absence of Tiger Woods, this will be the first time he has entered a major championship as the highest-ranked player in the field. As ever, though, he is diplomatic. Why tug the striped feline's tail, even if he can't chase you just yet.
"Tiger's absence is a huge hit for golf," he says. "The television ratings will be down. Fan interest will be down. But there are a number of guys – especially the top players – who will look on it as an opportunity to win the year's remaining two majors. Heading into the Open, Tiger not being there will be a huge topic of conversation. But once the event starts, the play and those in contention will become the story."
Good point; well made. And if Mickelson is one of the lead characters in the four-day tale to come, expect a few twists and turns to the plot – and no guarantees about the ending.
The full article contains 1459 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
