Phil Mickelson vows to take down the illusive US Open in Tiger Woods' absence
Phil Mickelson, the lone super-star of the American bandwagon, will be pitched in another desperate attempt this week to lift the most elusive title of his career, the US Open.
A four-time major winner has finished runner-up for a staggering five times at the Congressional Country Club and after Tiger Woods decision to lay back, he remains the most revered American golfer and the only one by miles, who has any chance of winning the second major of the season.
Mickelson, who will be celebrating his 41st birthday right at the beginning of the event, has vowed to take down the strong field from across the world to bag his childhood dream, the US Open, and boosts of a strong form to achieve the same.
"As a kid I dreamt of winning this tournament," he has often said, but is still waiting for his dream to come true. US Open is the only major event of the sport on the American soil which he has not won despite his four major titles including the Masters at Augusta that he won three times. His second place finish in the 2006 event has some haunting memories for the left-handed golfer and no matter how well he was able to do for himself afterwards, he has never been completely able to forget the fiasco on that evening at Congressional.
With Tiger Woods' early departure from the field, as the then-number one failed to make the cut, Mickelson had a bright chance of running away with the title especially when fast approaching Colin Montgomerie double-bogeyed his last hole. The lanky golfer caved in to the immense pressure and threw away the title. Geof Ogilvy came out to be the winner of the US open, something which left many of the sport's fans across the globe, speechless and let down.
"I still am in shock that I did that - I am such an idiot," said Mickelson. "This one hurts more than any tournament because I had it won. I had it in my grasp and just let it go. This one is going to take a little while to get over."
Although Mickelson had a bad spate with his lingering arthritis for a longtime, the golfer is in superb form and has hardly ever allowed his illness call the shots. He won the Shell Houston Open on the PGA tour in the season with an eye-popping 20-under, marking his 39th win on the tour since his debut in 1992.
Most of Mickelson's era had been overshadowed by the mighty Woods who single handedly dominated the sport for a whole decade. He reached number two in the world rankings trailing Woods most of the times and his earnings for the year 2007 reached $51 million.
Mickelson will be facing the trailblazing European golfers who have been on a winning streak on both sides of the Atlantic, coupled with some new firebrand young golfers eager to open up their major account.
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