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Phil Mickelson’s history of heartbreak in the US Open has become the stuff of legend.
For those who have forgotten, a quick re-cap.
The left-hander has finished runner-up in his national championship a record six times in 27 appearances. The most recent of those came in 2013, when he was left close to tears after spurning a gilt-edged chance to win at Merion.
The US Open is the only missing link in Mickelson’s bid to become just the sixth player in history to complete the modern career grand slam.
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However, he’ll turn 49 on the final day of this year’s championship and the oldest major champion in the history of the game is Julius Boros, who was 48 years, four months and 18 days when he won the 1968 US PGA Championship.
Time and the tide of history? Both are undoubtedly stacked against Mickelson. One man, however, fancies his chances of getting the job done at Pebble Beach this June.
Speaking on the Golf Channel yesterday, veteran CBS Sports commentator Jim Nantz said: “I think he’s going to win at Pebble. I want to put that on the record, right now. I like stories. I like to figure out how history ties to the present.”
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Nantz made a compelling case, pointing out that, as well as the final round coinciding with Lefty’s birthday, he has also won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on four separate occasions and that his mother’s father was one of the first-ever caddies at the club.
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Describing the story as “an American dream”, Nantz added: “Instead of what his grandfather was making, 25 cents a bag, now he’s going to close out the career grand slam on the sacred sod of Pebble Beach – what a story that would be.
“The story is too good and his record is too good there for me to overlook it.”
Will this be Phil Mickelson’s year at last?
Do you agree with Jim Nantz that this will be the year Phil Mickelson finally breaks his US Open hoodoo? Or do you think that he’s destined to never win the championship? Leave your thoughts in our Comments section below.
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