Phil Mickelson’s U.S. Open career likely ends with final bit of heartbreak

OAKMONT, Pa. – Phil Mickelson’s U.S. Open career likely just ended in typically heartbreaking fashion.

Safely inside the cut line as he navigated the back nine at Oakmont, Mickelson came unglued over the final hour, making two double bogeys in a three-hole span and missing a 15-footer on the last that would have pushed him into the weekend.

Instead, his tap-in on the 18^th green in near-darkness Friday night likely was his final stroke in what has been a star-crossed U.S. Open career.

This was the final year of his five-year exemption after his stunning victory at the 2021 PGA Championship. Before that event at Kiawah Island, the USGA extended the then-50-year-old a free pass into the U.S. Open, but his record-breaking victory earned him a berth on his own.

Much has changed over the past few years, of course.

One of the game’s most popular players during his prime, Mickelson has become a divisive figure after serving as one of the chief player recruiters for the breakaway LIV Golf league. On the biggest stages, at least, Mickelson has been reclusive, often declining interview requests – as he did all week at Oakmont, including after his round on Friday – and keeping a low profile at past champions’ events.

It remains to be seen whether the USGA will grant the six-time runner-up a future exemption. It seems unlikely that his controversial episode at the 2018 U.S. Open – when he swatted a moving ball on the green, in an apparent attempt to prove the course setup had crossed the line – would be disqualifying, since the USGA still offered him a spot three years later. The Open returns to Shinnecock next year, while Pebble Beach – which has long been one of Mickelson’s personal playgrounds – is on the schedule for 2027.

Mickelson, who turns 55 on Monday, acknowledged that this year’s U.S. Open could be his last, closing the chapter on a tournament that has seen countless forms of heartbreak, from Payne Stewart denying him on the final hole at Pinehurst in 1999, to his cold putter at Shinnecock in 2004, to his double-bogey meltdown at Winged Foot in ’06, to his late miscue at Merion in 2013.

“There’s a high likelihood that it will be,” Mickelson said last week at the LIV event in Virginia, “but I haven’t really thought about it too much.”

When asked if he’ll attempt to qualify on his own, through a 36-hole final qualifier, he said: “I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far.”

Barring a major victory in the next 12 months, he’ll need another way into the 2026 Open after his sloppy finish to his second round at Oakmont.

Even par for the day, Mickelson chopped his way up the par-4 15^th, missing right off the tee, then left with his approach, before he pitched on and three-putted from 12 feet for double bogey.

It only got worse on the drivable 17^th, when his legendary short game let him down. Short-sided and in thick rough right of the green, he dumped his pitch shot into the bunker, blasted out and then three-putted again from 25 feet.

Still, he had a chance to make the weekend, if he could birdie the finishing hole. He smashed a 343-yard drive down the fairway to position himself nicely, then hit a gorgeous approach that landed near the cup, hopped on top of the ridge and spun back down the hill, 15 feet away.

It was a compelling few minutes as he waited for his cut-making putt. The weather warning signal had appeared on the electronic leaderboard, as a light rain began to fall, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled in the distance. At one point, Mickelson stared and studied his position, one shot off the cut line for the low 60 and ties. One of his fellow playing competitors, Brian Harman, was farther away for par, and needing two putts to make the cut, Harman took several minutes studying his complex putt back down the slope. At one point, Mickelson appeared to step in, as if he was about to play out of turn in order to finish before the horn, before eventually backing off.

After Harman cozied his putt to within a few feet, Mickelson quickly stepped in. In front of roughly 200 fans ringing the final green, his birdie putt burned the right edge.

Dressed in a blue HyFlyers polo and white team hat, his hair and scraggly beard now turned gray, Mickelson stopped to fill out his scorecard, his two-round total of 148 a stroke too many. It turned out to be another lost week; needing the Open for the final leg of the career Grand Slam every year since 2014, he has now failed to post a top-25 and missed six cuts. As he headed toward the clubhouse, a fan shouted: “We still love you, Phil!” Some five minutes later, with Mickelson now tucked inside the clubhouse to gather his belongings, heavy rain began to fall.