Politi: Phil Mickelson could save otherwise forgettable U.S. Open on final day

Follow on Twitter
on June 21, 2009 at 10:39 PM, updated June 22, 2009 at 12:40 AM
Phil Mickelson goes into Monday's play five strokes behind leaders Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover.

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Rain. Mud balls. No-name leaders. More rain. A ticket controversy. Drunken fans. More #@&$% rain.

If this U.S. Open ended when it was supposed to Sunday night, it would have gone straight on the list of the worst majors in golf history. Instead, Bethpage Black gets a mulligan on Monday.

Instead, these rain-soaked fans get a shot to see a finish that will go down as one of the greatest. The star of this show has exactly 16 holes to steal the trophy that everyone wants him to win, or at least force a playoff that the galleries would actually stick around to watch.

Phil Mickelson can win this thing.

He is just five shots back at 2 under. He needs either an epic finish or for unheralded leaders Ricky Barnes and Lucas Glover to pull a Greg Norman, or some combination of the two.

But he is still there, in a four-way tie for third place, the one name on the leaderboard that had to make everyone else toss and turn Sunday night in their rented Long Island homes.

"I feel like I'm just 18 good holes away," Mickelson said. "There are only two people ahead of me, and I feel like I can get a hot round going and make up the difference."

He had just finished the third round by curving a 35-foot birdie putt into the hole on No. 18. The round was typical Phil: Seven birdies, six pars, four bogeys, one double bogey and roughly 40 billion "you da mans!"

He went back on the course as the sun was setting -- not that anyone here could actually see that -- and made two tap-in pars to start the final round. He was standing on the tee at No. 3 when the horn blew to end play, looking like a man ready to claim his fourth major.

Barnes, meanwhile, was leaking oil like a '72 Pinto, a bogey on No. 1 and knocking his drive into the fescue on No. 2. Glover looked more steady at the end, but he had never made the cut in an Open before this week. Who knows how he handles the pressure?

"Having won a couple of majors," Mickelson said, "I feel confident in a challenging event like this."

The mission for Mickelson simple. He has to make birdies in droves, and he can draw on recent history for inspiration. It was just two months ago when another major needed saving, and Mickelson went out at Augusta National and shot a 6-under on the front nine to shoot into contention.

He had a red-hot sidekick that day named Tiger Woods. Lefty shot a 67 and Tiger shot a 68, and all anyone leaving the Masters could talk about was their shot-for-shot duel. "Most fun I've ever had on a golf course," is how Jim MacKay, the longtime caddie for Mickelson, described it.

Mickelson will have to generate the joy alone on Monday. Woods is 7 back, still unable to recover from a poor finish to his first round.

As for the defending champion, no one has looked more ready for a trip to end since Clark Griswold took the family to Wally World. At one point yesterday afternoon he was sitting alone at a table of four, picking at an overcooked beef kebob and half a dry ham sandwich, watching Barnes birdie another hole.

"We can't even remember what day we're playing -- it just all blurs together," Woods said, when asked about starts and stops. His failure to defend is partly his balky putter but mostly bad luck. If it was raining, chances are Woods was somewhere on the course, looking miserable.

He is seven shots back with too much ground to make up and too many bodies to climb over. His chief rival has a more manageable task. Arnold Palmer made up seven strokes and passed 14 players when he won his lone Open in 1960. Mickelson only has to make up five and pass two.

Would anyone be surprised if Barnes, who has never won a professional tournament, shot a 76? Or if Glover, who has one career victory on his resume, did the same?

Mickelson is tied with David Duval, currently ranked 882nd in the world; Hunter Mahan, playing in just his third Open; and Ross Fisher, whose first name I just had to look up. He isn't exactly trying to track down Hogan and Snead while fending off the Big Three.

A victory would put him a step ahead of rivals like Ernie Els and Vijay Singh with a fourth major. It would make amends for the 72nd hole collapse in the '06 Open at Winged Foot.

The fans here were roaring for him when he made practice putts Sunday night. Imagine the ovation he'd get for sinking the winning putt with his wife Amy 3,000 miles away fighting breast cancer.

It would be the ray of sunshine that could save this 109th U.S. Open from the list of the worst majors ever.

Rain? What rain?
