Phil Mickelson faced with his golf mortality (and we farewell open?)

The concept of the Liv Golf team often extends to the League press conferences, which was the case Wednesday Robert Trent Jones Golf Clubin Virginia, where Phil Mickelson And his teammates Hyflyer faced the media as a quadrilateral.

Approximately in the middle of the session, Mickelson’s hand team and Brendan Stele, Cameron Tringale and Andy OgleTree were asked to reflect on the heritage of their captain.

Stele praised Mickelson’s work ethic, “infectious” life and energy; Tringale called the bold style of the Mickelson game and the “authentic” way in which he engages with people; OgleTree, the youngest Hyfler in 27, said he did not “feel qualified” to reflect on his boss’s legacy, but that he has always appreciated Mickelson’s mentoring. Not mentioned, of course, were any of the weakest elements of Mickelson’s past – ie, his massive Gambling debts Or the knife that he watched squarely into the PGA Tour’s back-but this was no forum for obvious objectivity. It was a platform to celebrate a six -time major that has been useful to set up a new global golf tournament and, more widely, to fix the financing of men’s professional golf.

Honestly, despite your taste for Mickelson, it’s hard to imagine the pro game without He since he won his first PGA Tour event as an amateur with Pop-Pop by Arizona State-Joj was 34 years ago-Mickelson has maintained a strong meaning in golf fans’ imaginations. Credit his ability of the other world, but also his superiority for danger and hell, both in the course and abroad. However, regardless of the purpose of his innate talent, no volume of supplementary infected coffee can keep Mickelson Young forever.

Phil gets it. Statistics show them like that. So far in his Livi mandate, Mickelson has largely been irrelevant. In 2022, it ended the 39th in the individual points race, followed from 33 to ’23 and a 50 low one year ago. His form has not only damaged at the end of it, but also his team.

“I want to be realistic,” he said Wednesday in the wake of flattery by his teammates. “I want this team to succeed. I don’t want to keep it again. If I’m not a fortune, if I’m not helping, if I’m keeping it again, then it’s time for me to continue and get someone else here who will really help the team win and succeed.” He added the progress of Hyfyers, “I feel like I have kept them again in recent years.”

These may not be easy words that Mickelson mean. When it comes to his abilities, he has always been an ardent optimist. You know this if you’ve heard any of him … Oh, let’s call it 120 or more print conferences throughout his career. If a new swinging key or driver’s tweet did not have Mickelson excited about his chances in a given week, then made a new bunker sand or smooth recipe.

You also know this if you consume most of your Golf content via YouTube and have caught any of Mickelson’s matches against or along with Grant Horvat. You will have to dig deep into the play lists to find any evidence of Mickelson who has no confidence. This deep confidence that he can attract every stroke at all times-has made Mickelson great. It also, in some memorable cases, has undone it. (See, Wingspan2006, “I’m such an idiot.)

Helps also explain why Captain Phil is not quite Ready to adorn himself.

“This year I’ve played better,” he said Wednesday. “I had a great season off -season. I don’t feel I’m holding (my team) now. If I can continue to play well, help the team succeed then I want to play.”

In March, Mickelson recorded his best Livi’s completion when he was tied up for the third in Hong Kong. A month later, he ended the sixth at the Livi Miami event in Trump Doral. But in the following weeks, he lost cutting In Masters (75-72), he ended up outside the 20 best in Liv’s events in Mexico City and Korea and then lost another cut in the Championship PGA in Quail Hollow (79-72). His third main presentation of the season will come to the US Open at Oakmont Next week, and with him, another reminder that his days of glory are counted. That’s because Open Open’s five-year exception that Mickelson won when he won the PGA 2021 championship expires this year.

Then, Oakmont can serve as the song of Open Swan and Mickelson?

“It’s a high chance that it will be. But I really didn’t think much about it,” he said Wednesday.

There are other trails again in the open, of course – whether through qualification or with special invitation from USA. But in terms of a guaranteed View, 2025 is the last for Phil. However, it is not surprising, he chose not to stop in that reality, instead answering why he feels like he will be ready for the beast of a testing test.

“What I thought is how similar this week’s course is similar to what we will see next week,” Mickelson said. “We have greens that are rolling 14 to 15 in Stimmeter just like we will next week.” He added, “Short game, touch, pieces around the greens, rough, speed, delays and speed and touch in the greens, all of which is critical here the same as next week. It could not be a better place to prepare.”

See, optimistic.