OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA | It is too soon to know if Phil Mickelson played his final U.S. Open last week, but a sense of inevitability hung in the drippy air late Friday after a poor finish cut the six-time runner-up out of the weekend at Oakmont.
Mickelson, playing his 34th U.S. Open, was safely inside the cut line with four holes remaining in the second round until he was undone by double bogeys on the 15th and 17th holes, putting an abrupt end to an otherwise encouraging performance.
Mickelson can try to qualify for the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills but it seems unlikely the USGA will grant him an exemption considering his actions there in 2018 when he hit a moving ball on the 13th green to demonstrate his frustration with the course setup.
The six-time major champion did not speak with the media last week but he acknowledged prior to the U.S. Open that this could be his final start in the event with his five-year exemption for his 2021 PGA Championship expiring.
“I think the way that we would also think of Phil is we hope he earns his way in, and I think he'd tell you the same thing. That's what he did last time. We gave him one [in 2021] and then he went out and won the PGA Championship. So wouldn’t put it past him,” John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer for the USGA, said Wednesday.
Mickelson’s history in the U.S. Open, the only major championship he has not won, is extraordinary for both his performances and the drama.
Payne Stewart beat him on the final green in 1999 while Mickelson was hours from becoming a father for the first time. He double-bogeyed the 18th hole on Sunday at Winged Foot to lose by a stroke in 2006.
He three-putted from 5 feet on the 71st hole at Shinnecock Hills in 2004 to lose by two strokes and he had a share of the lead on the final nine at Merion in 2013 after flying overnight from California prior to the first round to attend his daughter’s eighth-grade graduation.
By the time Mickelson finished late Friday, most of the fans had departed and rain was falling. It was a quiet sendoff for a player whose U.S. Open story is unlike any other.
“Unfortunately my memories of him are not winning, because I know he needs it for the Grand Slam,” Ben Griffin said. “Growing up as a kid watching him and Tiger battle it out and some other big names was really cool.
“Phil is a guy that I definitely watched throughout my junior golf and throughout childhood and was a good guy to kind of follow and be inspired by.”
Ron Green Jr.