Phil Mickelson is in Memphis where he will sweat it out with the rest of the field at the St. Jude tournament starting Thursday.
The FedEx St. Jude is one of those unfortunate events that falls the week before a major and the U.S. Open is perhaps the most difficult major to win. It has been the Holy Grail for Mickelson. He’s chased it his entire career, only to see it slip from his grasp enough times to drive anyone to the nut house.
Once again, Phil the Thrill has given no indication that his game is ready. He shot 78-75 over the weekend at Memorial. Who knows what he’ll shoot in Memphis.
The great equalizer next week is that Chambers Bay is a gigantic puzzle that no player has seen under competition, much less one of those danger-plagued USGA setups.
Mike Davis from the USGA issued a stern warning a couple of weeks ago, pretty much telling the field that this isn’t a track where you can show up with your yardage book, spend a day or two thrashing around and expect to compete. Now what that says as to how he will have the links course set up remains to be seen.
The one thing we do know is that next week begins a run of three straight majors, three straight months — June, July, August — Chambers Bay, St. Andrews, Whistling Straits, all links courses. Brings in a lot of possible winners/contenders, including a swarm of guys from the European Tour.
Yes, then there’s Lefty.
The only given about Mickelson going into this week and next is that the big fella is predictably unpredictable.
