54-year-old Phil Mickelson admitted that before the US opening in 2025, the final trek of the national championships, potentially ending a 35-year quest for two elusive crowns (the other is a career grand slam) he had not captured. Mickelson’s exemption at a six-time runner-up USGA-sponsored event ran out after his victory at the 2021 PGA Championship.
The hit was difficult for left-handers, but most notably the 18th double bogey in 2006 Winged Foot, which required a party to win. Nevertheless, he continued to try and climb the mountain, holding two more leads on Sundays in 2009 and 2013, not short of the major he most coveted.
When he arrived at the Oakmont Country Club, it was difficult to imagine how the tournament that had been tortured Mickelson for so long could hurt him again. He had no real expectations. It is possible that he came out of a strong finish in Virginia’s latest LIV golf event and accepted long ago that he would never complete that career grand slam.
Oakmont still found a way to draw fresh blood while fighting in the first 14 holes evenly in four overs for the tournament on Friday. The expected cut line was seven over, and he had to simply avoid disasters to reach the weekend and give at least two rounds in the US open carrier.
His history fitting at the event unraveled Mickelson as if he was thought to be safe. The 15th double bogey on the par 4 dropped him to over 6 years old. He bouncing off on the 16th with a par, appearing to have stabilized his round before visiting Oakmont’s only hall, the only hall that was 17th place, a driveable par 4.
Mickelson’s tee shot discovered something rough in the lower path above the bunker guarding the front of the green, and despite his short game talent he couldn’t avoid carving the second bunker. His third spotted green 26 feet above the hole, but from there a 3 putt became a double bogey, dropping one outside the cut line.
That is, Mickelson needed a birdie on the 18th, and the golf gods had no choice but to make the last cruel pranks left-handed and cruel pranks at the US open. He piped the drive, hit a beautiful second shot 14 feet, hole high, and set up the birdie look he needed to make the weekend.
Putt kissed his lips on the lips before sliding beside the hole, bringing a two-putt par to finish the tournament, potentially becoming his US open career.
Perhaps Mickelson can play his way into our openness in the future. Qualifying is always a route that he would like to use if he wanted, but if this was his final US open, it ended in a deservedly cruel way.
Mickelson first competed in the US Open at the age of 19, and stood as a fixture at events for over 30 years, often serving as a fan favorite. The public often did their best to make him do to that elusive victory that he never came. At age 54, despite the long decline of the Grand Slam Dream of that career, the US Open still gave him another kick on his way out the door.
