Mickelson Still Feeling Grand

There doesn’t seem to be much that bothers Phil Mickelson these days. When it started raining Thursday afternoon at the U.S. Open, Mickelson put up his umbrella and continued to smile the loopy grin that has been his trademark for more than two months now, since he won the Masters.

Life is so good to Mickelson now that neither a rainstorm nor thunder nor fog thicker than clam chowder could keep him from his appointed rounds as golf’s premier optimist.

The bad weather that caused a two-hour delay did prevent Mickelson from completing his first round at Shinnecock Hills, but he was two under par through 15 holes, reason enough to keep that smile plastered on his face.

Beneath his umbrella, Mickelson knew he hadn’t made a single bogey, which was good, and that he also hadn’t done one thing to put him in trouble, which was really good.

That’s sort of unlike Phil, or at least the old Phil, the pre-Masters Mickelson, a player who put his foot on the gas pedal and stomped it. He went to Augusta National as the best player never to have won a major and left it as the best player to have won only one.

He finally found the secret to winning majors there, though, or at least what worked for him. He knew he had to ease off his no-holds-barred approach, take a little off the fastball and avoid putting so much pressure on himself that his head felt squeezed.

So now it is a hugely different Mickelson here at the U.S. Open, not only a major champion, but also a player who acts much more comfortable in his own skin. The transformation has been downright remarkable.

Here’s the Mickelson magic in three easy steps: relax, birdie, smile.

Maybe another reason he seems so comfortable is that he’s a favorite of the fans around here. The last time Mickelson played in a U.S. Open in New York, two years ago, he was second at Bethpage Black, where Tiger Woods triumphed. Mickelson, however, was clearly the people’s choice.

He enjoyed that same reaction all week at the Masters, where the galleries appreciated his doggedness and cheered him each step of the way.

Mickelson says he’s glad to be playing another Open in New York because the fans are knowledgeable about the game and also appreciative of the players’ efforts in one of golf’s toughest showdowns.

Mickelson doesn’t know what is going to happen this week, what stone-mottled bunker or knee-deep rough or other kind of knotty predicament he may have to battle, but he says he has learned something from his Masters victory.

For the first time, he says, he’s thinking big picture.

He wants to build on his Masters victory, add on to it, win more majors.

What he doesn’t want to do is say, “Well, that’s as good as it gets. I’m done. That’s enough. Pass me that box of doughnuts, please.”

No, the plan now is to continue to play like the new Phil in all the majors. And because we’re in one here and now, this would be a perfect place to keep the ball rolling.

Many see the U.S. Open as the most difficult major to win because the courses are different each year and those courses are set up so that just thinking about them can bring on a migraine.

They haven’t bothered Mickelson all that much. In his last nine U.S. Open appearances, Mickelson has five top-10s and has been second twice, in 2002 at Bethpage Black and in 1999 at Pinehurst, N.C., when Payne Stewart won on the last hole.

There is another item on Mickelson’s mind this week. Because he won the Masters, he’s the only player with the chance at the grand slam. Call it far-fetched, but imagine if Mickelson could pull it off. That smile would be big, wouldn’t it?