John Dudley: Claret jug in hand, Mickelson remains golf's most sympathetic figure

An American, and an unlikely underdog at that, ended a lengthy slump in major golf championships Sunday.

Only it wasn't the one a lot of us thought would be hoisting the silver claret jug early Sunday afternoon (for us here stateside, anyway).

I was among those who watched Tiger Woods manage his way around Muirfield on Thursday and felt this was a genuine opportunity for him to win his first major since 2008.

After all, Woods has proven himself to be a capable, if not spectacular, links player, while Phil Mickelson has never taken kindly to the hard, gusty, gorse-lined courses of the British Isles.

All of that changed Sunday, when Mickelson, who has missed the cut four times at Opens over the years, finally figured one out at the perfect time.

Lefty birdied four of the final six holes and posted a 5-under 66 that, even with four groups still on the course, appeared to be a lock to stand up.

Mickelson winning a major championship is no surprise. Winning one at Muirfield, though, was shocking.

It would have seemed more likely to watch him plunge into the Firth of Forth in frustration than to see him standing alongside it, dry as a bone, in triumph.

He admitted afterward he wondered if he would ever possess the game to pull it off.

Lefty had four major titles before this week and finished second a record six times in U.S. Opens. But for all that success, his style has always gotten along better with target-golf courses like Augusta and Baltusrol, where errant tee shots are less likely to end up rolling into the roiling sea.

The difference this weekend was that Mickelson tweaked his putting stroke and stashed his driver. Using a 3-wood, as he did at Merion and again last week in winning the Scottish Open for his first victory on British soil, Mickelson avoided the scattershot tee shots that previously crushed his chances at courses like Muirfield.

He finally overcame whatever was holding him back (fear? doubt? stubbornness?), traded the soaring, majestic shots he prefers for the low scorchers the Open demands, and walked away a conqueror, dispatching stunned third-round leader Lee Westwood in the process.

The result was splendid and satisfying, because for so many of us Mickelson remains the most sympathetic figure in golf.

Yes, he's won 41 tournaments and collected more than $63 million in earnings and endorsements. To paraphrase Garth Brooks, he probably has more money than his grandchildren's grandchildren can spend.

But he also seems like one of us, and we suffered a little along with him in 2009 and 2010, while his wife, Amy, and mother, Mary, waged battles with cancer.

We've chuckled at times because, like us, he's a flawed swashbuckler who sometimes leaves the course a little bloodier than he arrived. He attempts shots he shouldn't attempt, pulls out clubs he should leave in the bag, and often pays the price.

For a change Sunday, the tables were turned. Mickelson swashbuckled a little less, buttoned down the bravado at just the right times, and the links paid the price instead.

The right American won, even if it was the one all but written off by history's oddsmakers.

JOHN DUDLEY can be reached at 870-1677 or john.dudley@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNdudley.

Source: http://www.goerie.com/article/20130722/SPORTS0509/307229940/John-Dudley%3A-Claret-jug-in-hand-Mickelson-remains-golf's-most-sympathetic-figure

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