Phil Mickelson hopes playing on links helps him contend in British Open

Phil Mickelson had to return the Claret Jug, the trophy that goes to the British Open champion, shortly after his arrival for this year’s tournament at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England.

But doing that allowed him to reflect on a year of keeping golf’s oldest trophy, and the confidence he has when he plays links golf.

“It’s a different feeling for me coming over here now having won this tournament,” Mickelson said. “The way I felt was, ‘Am I ever going to break through and play well on links golf and win an Open Championship?' Now I know that I can. I know that I’ve done it, and it takes a lot of pressure off me.”

While Mickelson has confidence playing golf on links courses, his overall game isn’t sharp.

Not even Mickelson would have imagined when he left Muirfield after his victory last summer that he would not have won another tournament anywhere in the world. This is the longest he has gone without winning in five years.

And except for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, where he was runner-up, Mickelson hasn’t been particularly close. He has missed three cuts, and he withdrew twice after narrowly making the cut because of injuries in San Diego and San Antonio.

Still, Mickelson has a smile on his face as he prepares to play in this year’s Open, which runs Thursday through Sunday.

“Normally, I would be discourage or frustrated, but I’m just not,” Mickelson said. “I feel like I’ve had some good breakthroughs in some areas. I haven’t had the results. I know I haven’t played well. But the parts feel a lot better than the whole right now.

“I don’t know when it will all click together. I don’t know if it will be this week. I don’t know if it will be in three weeks or a month or what, but it should be soon.”

But at age 44, Mickelson might be running out of time.

Mickelson had to overcome arthritis in the middle of the 2010 season, and only eight players older than he is right now have won majors. Mickelson doesn’t see that as an obstacle.

“I feel better than I have in a long time,” he said.

This story was originally published July 16, 2014 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Phil Mickelson hopes playing on links helps him contend in British Open."