Mickelson cautiously confident

Lefty aiming to end his longest winless streak in five years

Phil Mickelson rolled long putts across the practice green in front of the Royal Liverpool clubhouse, some of them going in, most of them the right distance.

He chirped to Brandt Snedeker's caddy about their money game, a Mickelson tradition at the majors.

Lefty was in good spirits on Monday at the British Open - except for having to return the claret jug.

Even that allowed him to reflect on a year of keeping the game's oldest trophy, and the confidence he said he finally has for playing links golf.

"It's a different feeling for me coming over here now having won this tournament," Mickelson said.

"The way I felt was, 'Am I ever going to break through and play well on links golf and win an Open Championship?' Now I know that I can. I know that I've done it, and it takes a lot of pressure off me."

Confidence in links golf? Yes.

In his game?

That takes a little more work.

Not even Mickelson would have imagined when he left Muirfield last summer that he would not have won another tournament anywhere in the world.

This is the longest he has gone without winning in five years.

And except for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, where he was runner-up, Mickelson hasn't been particularly close.

He has missed three cuts. He withdrew twice after narrowly making the cut because of injuries in San Diego and San Antonio.

At the Masters, where he is a three-time champion, Mickelson missed the cut for the first time in 17 years.

His lone top 10 on the PGA Tour was last August at The Barclays, a tie for sixth when he closed with a 65.

So why the smile?

"Normally, I would be discouraged or frustrated, but I'm just not," Mickelson said.

"I feel like I've had some good breakthroughs in some areas, but I haven't had the results. I know I haven't played well, but the parts feel a lot better than the whole right now.

"I don't know when it will all click together. I don't know if it will be this week. I don't know if it will be in three weeks or a month or what, but it should be soon."

He's running out of time.

Mickelson is No 12 in the Ryder Cup standings. He has qualified for every team since 1995 - two years after Jordan Spieth was born. He has reached the FedEx Cup finale for the top 30 at the Tour Championship every year since it began in 2007.

With only three starts before the playoffs begin, Mickelson is at No 97.

Then again, it's easy for Mickelson not to be overly concerned.

He is 44 and has been on tour for half of his life, compiling 42 victories on the PGA Tour and five majors, including that claret jug.

It's at least been a good year for the jug.

He has taken it to golf clubs and corporate outings, shared it with friends and people he had never met. He has let his caddy, Jim Mackay, take it to pose for pictures.

Mickelson had only one rule.

"One of the things I stressed is that we have to treat the claret jug with reverence and respect that it deserves, and only put good stuff in it," he said.

"No bad stuff was allowed. And each person that I brought it to had a different definition of what the good stuff was."

One definition was a bottle of 1990 Romanee Conti, which can cost up to $35,000.

"Now, I didn't know what this was when I drank it," Mickelson said. "I just knew that it was really good. And that was the best bottle that was ever put in there."

Like fine wine, Mickelson can only hope he gets better with age.

Even though he had to overcome arthritis in the middle of the 2010 season, and only eight players older than he is right now have won majors, Mickelson doesn't see that as an obstacle. Sure, he has to work a little harder, train a little better, stretch a little more.

"But I feel better than I have in a long time," he said.

Padraig Harrington is the last player to repeat as Open champion.

OLYMPIC GOLF TO BE TRULY GLOBAL

Organizers of golf's return to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 are confident the event will feature a good geographical spread of competitors.

Sixty players will line up in both the men's and women's 72-hole strokeplay tournaments in Brazil.

Golfers in the top 15 of the world rankings will automatic-ally be eligible, although no more than four players from any one country can compete.

Officials will also make space for at least one male and one female player from Brazil and are also committed to having at least one golfer from Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

"The current count, determined by today's rankings, I think is about 35 countries and regions (would be represented) for the men and about 33 for the women," said Peter Dawson, president of the International Golf Federation (IGF) organizers.

"We've got a good spread of countries in there and there's a good chance for every nation to have a go," added Dawson who is also chief executive of the Royal & Ancient, the body that runs this week's British Open at Hoylake.

Former world No 1 Rory McIlroy, who had the option of competing for Britain or Ireland at the Olympics, has vowed to represent the latter in Rio.

IGF executive director Antony Scanlon said anyone else involved in the same dual-nationality scenario as McIlroy would have to make a final decision by the end of this week.

The IGF will start to publish weekly Olympic rankings, based on the world rankings, next week.

"We didn't think it would be fair to switch nationalities halfway through the ranking process just because they would have more chance to play for one country than another," said Dawson.

Golf is returning to the Olympic schedule in 2016 for the first time since 1904.

Phil Mickelson catches a ball on the driving range before Monday's practice round ahead of the British Open in Hoylake, England. Reuters

(China Daily 07/16/2014 page23)