Scottie Scheffler heads to Shinnecock Hills and the US Open next week aiming to complete the career Grand Slam. If he succeeds, it will have taken him a little over four years after winning his first major championship; it took Rory McIlroy nearly 14 years from beginning to end. But any tale regarding the US Open and career Grand Slams cannot be complete without mention of Phil Mickelson. He has been a record six-times runner-up in his national championship. As with Sam Snead, who also won the other three majors in the era around World War II, his story is an ill-starred one in this particular event.
Phil’s first close call came in 1999 when Payne Stewart won the title for the second time, beating Mickelson by a shot at Pinehurst. Three years later at Bethpage Black, Mickelson was stomped on by Tiger Woods, who essentially had it wrapped up going into Sunday. In 2004, when Shinnecock was also the host, Mickelson lost by two to Retief Goosen, his demise sealed when, at that point tied for the lead, he three-putted from eight feet to double-bogey the 17th.
Two years on, it was the wreckage of Winged Foot. Geoff Ogilvy had finished with a total of 285. Colin Montgomerie had made a double-bogey six on the 18th when a bogey would have tied him with Ogilvy. Playing in the last group, Mickelson did the same. After a wild drive he spurned the safe option of playing for the bogey that would have earned him a playoff. Going for broke, he broke himself. “I am such an idiot,” he said. That was to be his best last shot, although he only finished two behind Lucas Glover on the return to Bethpage in 2009. Put another way, however, that was the fourth occasion he had held at least a share of the lead with two holes to play. And again he hadn’t got it done.
From a British perspective, the 2013 US Open is remembered as the one won by Justin Rose at Merion. Mickelson finished two shots behind him. And, to be accurate here, that sixth and final frustration for Phil did not deny him the Grand Slam. In June 2013 he had not yet won the Open Championship. He achieved that at Muirfield the following month. The US Open remained eternally out of reach.
One final thought, though. The career Grand Slam has been achieved by seven players: Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Woods and McIlroy. That’s a suitably stellar cast who have climbed the highest pinnacle in men’s golf. But I wonder if Mickelson sometimes muses on this thought. There are seven of them. How many men have won a major championship as a senior golfer? The answer is just one: Phil Mickelson, aged nearly 51 at the 2021 USPGA Championship. His subsequent involvement with LIV Golf may have besmirched his memory for many but he will always have Kiawah…
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
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Robert Green
Robert Green is a former editor of Golf World and Golf International magazines and the author of four books on golf, including Seve: Golf’s Flawed Genius. He has played golf on more than 450 courses around the world, occasionally acceptably.