ARDMORE, Pa. — It was all there in front of Phil Mickelson, the chance for him to take control of this U.S. Open and turn it into a four-day coronation.
But that wouldn’t be Phil’s style, now would it?
Mickelson came back to the field a bit Friday at Merion Golf Club with a 2-over 72 in the second round, joining Billy Horschel as the only players in the clubhouse better than par at 1-under. And just to make it perfect in tenor, he dropped a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, with the shadows deep and his smile wide, the first birdie of a grinding second round concluding a tumultuous 36 hours.
“It was a nice way to finish,” said Mickelson, who flew in hours before his weather-delayed tee time on Thursday. “I fought hard all day. Let a lot of birdie opportunities slide early and in the middle of the round. I fought hard to stay in there and hit a lot of good quality shots. Made a bunch of good pars.”
By the time Mickelson teed off at 3:41 p.m., it was clear Merion was not the rain-soaked pushover some thought it was going to be. Yet Mickelson backed up his opening-round 67 with some very solid play, and just missed easy birdie looks on Nos. 8 and 10 and 11.
“I played well,” he said, “even though I didn’t feel the score was what I thought it should be.”
By the time Mickelson reached the 18th tee, the sun was well below the tree line. If his group had not teed off by the time the horn sounded, they would have had to resume play there this morning at 7:15 a.m. So on the 17th tee, Mickelson had a conversation with Dustin Johnson, who was in the group in front. He asked that when they get to 18, Johnson and his group clear the fairway so one tee shot could be hit and Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Keegan Bradley would not be forced into an unpleasant morning.
“It’s nice when guys like that help out,” Mickelson said after Bradley hit the tee ball that allowed his group to finish.
Lefty finished even better, hitting a solid iron to the middle of the final green and pouring in that putt. As a runner-up in this event five times without winning, he is itching to break that streak. But he doesn’t think it’s going to come in a runaway, as it might have looked early in the afternoon.
“I don’t know how anyone is going to separate too far from the field,” Mickelson said. “There might be a hot round [today] and they might get a hot round [tomorrow], but unlikely to be the same player.”
If one of those players can be Mickelson, he will have a chance to exorcise all his U.S. Open demons. Yet something says he won’t make it easy.
“I just like being in the mix,” Mickelson said. “I think it’s fun having a chance heading into the weekend.”