Will Phil Mickelson Finally Win A U.S. Open?
The 2018 United States Open Championship returns next week to Shinnecock Hill Golf Club in Southampton, NY. Retief Goosen took home the title in 2004, beating Phil Mickelson by two strokes that year. The course then played a staggering 6,996 yards. This year, Phil looks to become the 6th golfer in history to win all 4 majors. (Masters, US Open, Open Championship, and PGA Championship)
Third Time’s A Charm For Lefty?
This will be the third time that Phil will compete in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills. His first appearance was in 1995 and he finished T-4. In 2004, he lost to Retief Goosen by two strokes. This year, he’s out to finally win the coveted trophy. Phil has been a runner up not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but SIX TIMES. His best shot was in 2006 at Winged Foot. That was until the 72nd hole when he pulled out driver and shanked his tee shot. And as they say, the rest is history.
He has familiarity with this course and he’s playing in the St. Jude Classic this week to get him some momentum. He currently sits -4 after round one, just one shot behind leader Seamus Power. If Phil can manage a top 5 performance, or even a win, that will boost his confidence going into Shinnecock Hills. Only question is, how will the course look?
USGA
He’s been critical of the United States Golf Association on how they prepared Shinnecock Hills in the past. Typically the USGA has tried to make the US Open near impossible. As a matter of fact, the last time the US Open came to Shinnecock Hills, they had to water the greens on Sunday pretty good to slow them down. When Rory won his US Open in 2011 at Congressional the USGA was embarrassed at how easy it was. The Baltimore area saw a lot of rain that week that really slowed down the course.
Only time will tell how the course will play next week. Not much information is available at the time. If you go on to the official Shinnecock Hills Golf Club website, they haven’t even released the yardage for next weeks event. But Phil can’t focus on that, the only thing he can focus on is how to win. A lot of golf fans will be pulling for him this weekend. He’s also been good at blocking out the noise of being a runner up six times.
Hopefully he can finally get over the hump next weekend.
–Brian Berard (@RockyBerard)