Profile / Editor / 12 June 2007 / Leave a Comment

It was feared at one stage in his career that, despite his immense talent, Phil Mickelson might join the unfortunate group classed as the best players never to win a major

But the popular Californian finally laid that bogey to rest three years ago when he won the first of his US Masters titles and, with arguably the world's best coach Butch Harmon now having taken him under his wing, there is a chance he can go on and challenge Tiger Woods' position at the top of the game.

Mickelson has always been enormously talented, something that first came to prominence in 1985 when he won the Western Open as an amateur - the first of his 31 US PGA Tour titles.

Career earnings of more than $43.5 million are further testament to his ability but, despite already having won three Grand Slam events, he has faced his problems over the years - not least of which was his dramatic collapse at last year's US Open at Winged Foot.

Standing on the final tee with a one-shot lead, only 'Lefty' can tell you why he chose to hit his driver having only found the fairway twice out of 13 attempts previously in his round.

The rest is history as he piled up a calamitous double-bogey six to hand Australian Geoff Ogilvy his first Major and Mickelson failed to recover from his shocking demise during the remainder of the 2006 season.

It was unclear which particular version of Mickelson would emerge at the start of 2007 but, thankfully, it was the one that has had galleries gasping in admiration at his brilliance during the last decade.

Two victories and second place on the PGA Money List and in the FedExCup standings illustrate how well he has done, and his victory at last month's Tournament Players' Championship in only his third event working with Harmon suggest there is much more to come.

Only the events at Oakmont this week will establish if Mickelson has erased the ghosts of Winged Foot.

But he has an outstanding record at the US Open having finished runner-up in the championship four times and he is trading at 12.5 to finally break his duck in the tournament, 4.1 to place in the top five and an inviting 18 to be leader after the first round.

On his day, Mickelson is capable of destroying any field - as he demonstrated at the 2006 BellSouth Classic when he won by an astonishing 13 shots.

He may not be the straightest off the tee but he is a magician around the greens and has an imagination that sets his short game apart from virtually everyone else's.

Mickelson, almost single-handedly, made the 'flop shot' globally popular overnight and he is not bad at putting either, ranking top of the putting averages in 2007 when hitting greens in regulation (1.715).

It would be a big surprise if the left-hander does not add to his current haul of three Majors, although whether he ever succeeds at The Open Championship would have to be in some doubt.

In 13 attempts, Mickelson has only ever finished in the top ten once when he came in third behind Todd Hamilton at Royal Troon in 2004.