Column: Phil Mickelson’s lurking turns to fading at British Open

Friday at the British Open was already confused by a long rain delay, and then Phil Mickelson started lurking.

Bingo. Story. Or so we presumed.

One of the lucky ones to get out in time to finish his second round Friday — the rain delay was 3 1/2 hours — Mickelson went out in a nice two-under 34. Then he birdied No. 10 and the BBC, as always, was all over it.

“Phil is going along very sweetly, thank you very much,” the announcer intoned. Say it with a British accent and you’ll get the real impact.

Sure, he was well back. An unheralded player from England, Danny Willett, was rolling in putts from all angles and got to 10 under par for a while. After his birdie at No. 10, Mickelson was five shots back.

Remember 2013 at Muirfield? Mickelson opened with a 69, then curled up in a ball with a 74 and a 72 the next two days. Everybody forgot him. But when he brought it home with a 66, we vowed to always pay attention when he was lurking in the future.

Mickelson is in kind of a time warp right now. He doesn’t have to apologize or rationalize about poor play like Tiger Woods because, while he isn’t playing great, he isn’t round-by-round imploding like Woods.

He is 45. Unlike Woods, who turns 40 in December, his age hasn’t been a talking point for a while. He took care of that by winning the British Open at 43.

Then there is the rise of Jordan Spieth. Winning two majors at age 21, and being a bright and quotable new face in golf, takes a little of the tour imaging-making responsibilities away from Mickelson, who has always led the way in that. If there were 100 people waiting for autographs, Mickelson would get to most of them.

But it has been a bit quieter lately, perhaps making the higher-profile Tiger and Spieth situations a convenient curtain behind which to hide. Also perhaps allowing for some avoidance.

Mickelson became a flash point at last fall’s U.S. Ryder Cup debacle at Gleneagles, an hour or so from here. Captain Tom Watson sat him for a round. Mickelson wasn’t happy and said so afterward. It turned out that clashing with the revered Watson was like ripping Santa Claus.

Asked about Watson at the Scottish Open last week, Mickelson said only nice things, including, “When he almost won in 2009 [at age 59], I was rooting for him as hard as anybody. I thought it would be the greatest story in the history of any sport.”

Watson, who is playing his last British Open here, was asked the other day about his current relationship with Mickelson.

“We are cordial,” he said.

Is that like calling a Picasso masterpiece “interesting”?

Then there is the gambling.

Often, the only buzz about practice before a major golf tournament is concerning whom Mickelson is practicing and how high the stakes are. Mickelson has never hidden his enjoyment for action.

But it got more serious recently when ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” reported that Gregory Silveira of La Quinta, Calif., had agreed to plead guilty to a charge of money laundering in an overseas gambling operation. The money was reported to be $2.75 million and the show’s sources said it belonged to Mickelson.

The report also said that Mickelson had not been charged and was not under investigation.

Asked about it last week at the Scottish Open, Mickelson told reporters he was comfortable with who he is and didn’t feel the need to comment on “every little report.”

Perhaps the reports get big at $3 million.

“People are going to say things good, they are going to say things bad,” Mickelson said. “They are going to say things that aren’t true.”

He also said, with his normal nod to a media that has romanced him and been romanced back for years, “I understand you have editors and need to ask questions.”

Actually, Friday’s need was only to see some golf from a legend and write about it. But Mickelson’s lurking soon turned to fading.

He bogeyed Nos. 11, 15 and — especially crushing — the maybe-eagle-and-certainly-birdie 18th.

He hit the green on the dreaded No. 17 Road Hole, approaching with a perfect low-trajectory iron shot into a sudden gale of wind. But he missed the birdie putt.

Then, having slipped back to exactly where he finished Thursday at two under par, he drove it long and into the rolling lumps, known as the Valley of Sin, in front of the 18th green. Chip up, make a putt and walk away three under, within reasonable range of the lead with two days to go.

Lurking, right? Remember Muirfield.

But Mickelson semi-chunked his chip. It rolled onto the green, then slowly back into the Valley of Sin. From there, he three-putted for a bogey, one of two that had been recorded on the 18th hole when the first half of the field had finished.

Afterward, he received an interview request through the normal channels. He declined.

Two things were unusual about that. That he declined, and that there was only one forlorn old reporter waiting instead of the usual throng.

Has Mickelson suddenly become old news?

He has earned the right in this situation to occasionally say no. He has signed a million autographs, done a million interviews, been among the most cooperative players in the game.

There was a chance to wait and buttonhole him at a back exit. The forlorn old reporter decided not to.

Like Mickelson that day, he didn’t lurk.

Bill.Dwyre@LATimes.com.

Twitter: @DwyreLATimes