Phil Mickelson feels different

The five-time runner-up is not dwelling on his past misses at the US Open anymore.

Phil Mickelson says he has put the past misses at his beloved US Open "in perspective".

If Phil Mickelson was asked to pick the one title in golf he wants more than any other there would not be the slightest hesitation in his answer.

It is the US Open and this Thursday - his 41st birthday - Mickelson will begin his 21st attempt to be crowned champion.

"As a kid I dreamt of winning this tournament," he has often said. But so far it has given him more heartache than any other.

The pain would be far worse, of course, if Mickelson had not lifted three Masters and one US PGA titles, but a record five second places in the US Open - and one in particular - are just as vivid memories as those triumphs.

The one in particular was Winged Foot five years ago.

Coming into the event on the back of victories at the PGA the previous season and Augusta that April, the chance was there to make it three majors in a row.

And, as will be the case at Congressional near Washington this week, he did not have Tiger Woods to worry about.

Not because Woods was not playing, but because his father had just died and two six-over-par rounds of 76 meant the then world No 1 missed the cut for the first time in a major as a professional.

Mickelson, ranked second at the time, needed a closing par once Colin Montgomerie had double-bogeyed the last but he also took six after carving his drive and Geoff Ogilvy was left as the winner.

"I still am in shock that I did that - I am such an idiot," said the left-hander at the time.

"This one hurts more than any tournament because I had it won. I had it in my grasp and just let it go."

Previously Mickelson had been beaten in 1999 when Payne Stewart made a 15-foot par putt on the final green, in 2002 when Woods won by three and in 2004 when a double bogey at the 17th led to him losing by two to Retief Goosen.

And since 2006 there has been one more runners-up finish - two years ago when he admitted he had more important things on his mind than the bogeys at the 15th and 17th that left him two behind Lucas Glover.

Mickelson was about to take a break from the game to care for wife Amy after her diagnosis of breast cancer and he said: "I'm certainly disappointed but I think maybe it's more in perspective for me because I feel different this time."

He missed The Open at Turnberry a month later and was way out of contention at that season's US PGA, but his third Masters green jacket came last year and the fact that he was able to share it with his wife made it extra special.

With treatment seemingly going well not only for his wife, but also his own psoriatic arthritis, the US Open remains top of his wish list and success in it would change the way Mickelson is remembered come the end of his playing days. "It's a challenge for me because it's difficult off the tee," he commented. "It's not as easy to get up and down around the greens.

"I don't talk as much during a US Open.

"It's just such a grind and you're so worried about what you're doing that it's very difficult to think about other stuff.

"But the way the courses have been set up the last couple of years, I feel I'll have more and more chances."