Can Phil Mickelson really win this PGA Championship?

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Phil Mickelson is critical about getting on high of his focus points. After leaping out entrance on the PGA Championship on Friday, he agreed to take simply three questions from reporters ready to grill him about his standing atop the leaderboard and his quest for a sixth main championship.

An additional question slipped by, one which Mickelson fortunately answered earlier than occurring his method to benefit from the afternoon and soak within the glory of his unlikely spot heading into the weekend at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course.

Fewer mind-probing questions, extra focus on the duty at hand.

No matter works for Mickelson, who shot 3-under-par 69 throughout the second spherical, then noticed 2010 Open champion Louis Oosthuizen take the lead then fall again right into a tie with him after a final-hole bogey on one other bluster day beside the Atlantic Ocean.

With 36 holes left, there is only one massive query: Can Phil Mickelson keep there?

He’ll have Oosthuizen taking part in with him. Proper in entrance of him, one shot behind, shall be two-time PGA Championship winner and four-time main champion Brooks Koepka.

The main focus points, which he vaguely describes and sometimes cites as the explanation for lackluster play, dates a few years. It got here into play a couple of weeks in the past when he shot an opening-round 64 on the Wells Fargo Championship, solely to comply with with scores of 75, 76, 76. In every of these three rounds, Mickelson hit it within the water on the par-3 seventeenth gap.

Absolutely that’s not all right down to swing mechanics?

A person occurring 51 will not be purported to contend in main championships. There’s a purpose it’s uncommon — he’s the primary 50-plus golfer to carry the lead at any main since Fred {Couples} did it on the 2012 Masters — and zeroing in on the duty at hand might very effectively be a part of the issue.

While you have a look at different elements of Mickelson’s recreation, age is hardly an element.

Whereas he won’t be as sharp as he was as a 30-something hotshot, he nonetheless hangs with the most effective within the recreation.

Mickelson is averaging higher than 311 yards on the measured driving holes by two rounds and leads the sphere in strokes gained tee-to-green. He’s additionally third in strokes gained off the tee.

That’s spectacular for somebody who offers up some 20 years to gamers akin to Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. No. 1-ranked Dustin Johnson — who missed the minimize — is 14 years youthful. Rory McIlroy is eighteen years youthful.

So the bodily abilities stay, actually sufficient to be aggressive.

A 44-time winner on the PGA Tour, Mickelson has been within the World Golf Corridor of Fame for practically a decade. Till 2019, he had not missed a U.S. Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup staff since 1993. For some 25 years, he was ranked among the many high 50 on the earth.

“If he can maintain it straight and hit it the best way he’s been hitting, he’s going to be round on Sunday, for positive,” mentioned Jason Day, who performed with Mickelson and Padraig Harrington the primary two rounds.

It’s the psychological aspect that even Mickelson has questioned, though the Kiawah Island course and all of its diabolical circumstances may truly be extra helpful than hindrance.

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Phil Mickelson recaps his sturdy end within the second spherical of the PGA Championship.

“I wouldn’t put it previous him,” mentioned Harrington, the European Ryder Cup captain and three-time main winner. “Within the place he’s, I count on him to contend and I wouldn’t put it previous him being there on the finish of the week, for positive.

“He has the bit between his tooth. I believe he believes he can do it in these circumstances, identical to myself. Phil would discover it simpler to compete on this fashion of golf course in these circumstances in a significant event on a regular basis. You may be affected person on these programs, and clearly you’ve acquired to make a couple of birdies. Nevertheless it fits any person who’s a participant, any person who’s pondering.”

Harrington, 49, is a eager observer and one who goes again a good distance with Mickelson. He recounted their first competitors collectively, the 1991 Walker Cup at Portmarnock. They’ve been Ryder Cup opponents and performed in loads of main championships collectively.

The Irishman likes to tinker, and has lengthy sought methods to enhance and defy age. That’s not a lot in contrast to Mickelson, who for all his oddities — diets, espresso, long-sleeved golf shirts — has remained largely harm free and aggressive into his senior golf years.

“From watching from the skin with Phil, if it’s not a very good week, he’s going to push it doesn’t matter what. He’s not right here to make the minimize. He’s not right here to complete … even fifteenth would disappoint. You realize what? Even second could be a disappointment for Phil.”

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Phil Mickelson closes out his second spherical on the PGA Championship together with his fifth birdie on the entrance 9.

The final time Mickelson completed that prime in a significant championship was in 2016, when he was runner-up to Henrik Stenson at The Open at Royal Troon. That was a tough-luck week for Mickelson, who opened the event with a 63 and ran right into a participant hotter than him. He beat the remainder of the sphere by 11 strokes.

He’s not been within the top-10 at a significant championship since Troon.

A number of issues to observe on Saturday. First up is the driving. Mickelson has been identified to spray some ugly tee photographs.

“There have been no foul balls,” Day mentioned. “Normally with Phil, you may get some fairly huge ones.”

Then there’s the propensity for giant numbers. Avoiding double bogeys is clearly essential. When Mickelson hit his strategy within the water on the thirteenth gap Friday, he dropped and from 141 yards nailed his fourth shot to lower than a foot to save lots of bogey. At Quail Hole two weeks in the past, Mickelson made 5 doubles.

The very last thing, in fact, are the main focus points.

“I’m making increasingly more progress by making an attempt to elongate my focus,” mentioned Mickelson, who added that typically he now performs greater than 18 holes in a day in an effort to give attention to each shot, thus making it simpler over an everyday spherical.

Once more, no matter works.

Mickelson is a hundred and fifteenth on the earth for a purpose, with simply two top-20 finishes previously two years. He’s practically three years older than the oldest main champion, Julius Boros, who was 48 when he captured the 1968 PGA. And it’s been greater than 5 years since a participant in his 50s — Davis Love III in 2015 on the Wyndham Championship — gained on the PGA Tour.

Then there’s the chasing pack. Oosthuizen, Koepka, reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and U.S Open champion Bryson DeChambeau are all in hanging distance. They’re unlikely to be intimidated by Mickelson. However he nonetheless resonates, nonetheless issues.

“He’s nonetheless Phil Mickelson to me,” Cameron Smith mentioned. “He can present up and he is aware of that he can nonetheless win. He talks the speak.”

Besides when he doesn’t wish to speak an excessive amount of.

For him, it’s time to focus.