Mickelson ready to move on
The leather-bound registry is called the ?Strangers Book,? an inch thick with weathered pages dating to 1980. The latest edition is in the clubhouse at Royal Liverpool for guests to sign when they play the storied links course.
Imagine what Ernie Els must have thought when he showed up to play 10 days after the U.S. Open.
On the line above the first empty space, dated June 26, was the signature of Phil Mickelson from San Diego, Calif.
?They asked me to come sign the club book, and I saw Phil?s name there,? Els said Tuesday. ?And I was like, ?What?s he … is he playing today?? And they said, ?No, he was here two days ago.? And that kind of surprised me a little bit. He?s played the course many times. That?s the way he wants to prepare. He wants to see the course a million times.
?That?s his way right now.?
Mickelson was so eager to leave behind his debacle at Winged Foot ? a double bogey on the 72nd hole that cost him the U.S. Open and a third straight major championship? that he showed up at Hoylake that next week to start preparing for the British Open.
He spent two days at Royal Liverpool, then returned last Thursday to play what amounts to a full tournament. He played four rounds, each of them taking a little more than eight hours as he studied every option off the tee, from the fairway, around the green. Mickelson played Sunday morning, then returned Sunday afternoon and played into the late twilight.
Asked how much they played, caddie Jim Mackay replied, ?You want rounds or hours??
It is hard to argue with the results.
In the last 10 majors, Mickelson has won three times, was runner-up twice and has finished out of the top 10 only two times. It was in 2004, the start of his stellar streak, that he began studying courses as if he were cramming for a final exam, looking at every angle to see where he could take risks and when he should play it safe.
?I feel very confident in the way I?ve prepared for tournaments and the way I?ve been playing,? he said. ?I don?t want to let one bad hole interfere with that, which is why I immediately altered my schedule to come over here.?