Phil Mickelson is within the area for subsequent week’s U.S. Open at Oakmont Nation Membership in Pittsburgh, and the six-time main champion acknowledged Wednesday that it may be his final probability to finish the profession Grand Slam.
Will probably be the ultimate yr of Mickelson’s five-year exemption for capturing the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, the place he turned the oldest main championship winner.
Mickelson, 54, is a six-time runner-up on the U.S. Open, the one one of many 4 main championships that he hasn’t received. He would grow to be the seventh golfer to realize the milestone, after Rory McIlroy did it on the Masters in April.
“I have not thought of it an excessive amount of,” Mickelson stated throughout a information convention at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership in Gainesville, Virginia, the location of this week’s LIV Golf League match. “There is a excessive probability that it will likely be, however I have not actually thought of it an excessive amount of.”
Requested if he would take part in open qualifying for future U.S. Opens if he is not exempt, Mickelson stated, “I do not know. I have not thought that far.”
In February, the U.S. Open turned the primary main to create a direct pathway for LIV Golf gamers, creating a brand new exemption that awarded a spot within the area to the main participant within the particular person factors standings on Might 19.
Subsequent yr, the highest golfer within the remaining factors standings this season will get a spot within the 2026 U.S. Open. The participant should be not already exempt and end within the prime three.
The highest 60 gamers within the Official World Golf Rating are additionally included within the U.S. Open area. Gamers do not get OWGR factors for his or her LIV Golf League finishes — Mickelson is presently ranked 1,162nd on this planet.
Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion, has a lifetime exemption to play at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership, in addition to the PGA Championship, which he received twice. He can play within the Open Championship till he is 60 after amassing a Claret Jug in 2013.
Mickelson turns 55 on June 16.
Mickelson additionally hinted Wednesday that the top of his taking part in profession within the LIV Golf League may not be too far-off. He stated he’ll maintain competing as a taking part in captain of HyFlyers GC, so long as he isn’t hurting his crew.
“I need this crew to succeed,” Mickelson stated. “I do not wish to maintain it again. If I am not an asset, if I am not serving to, if I am holding it again, then it is time for me to maneuver on and get anyone else in right here who’s going to actually assist the crew win and succeed. These guys should expertise that, and I need them to. As a accomplice on this crew, I need that, as nicely.”
Mickelson is fifteenth within the particular person factors standings, the best place on his crew. He completed third in a match in Hong Kong and sixth in Miami.
“This yr I’ve performed higher,” Mickelson stated. “I really feel like I’ve held it again the final couple years. I had a fantastic offseason. I do not really feel I am holding it again now. If I can proceed to play nicely, assist the crew succeed, then I wish to play. But when not, I am additionally real looking and I need the crew to succeed greater than I need my very own private curiosity [in] taking part in.”
