Phil

It has been reported numerous times over the past few days about Phil Mickelson never winning the US Open.   During the coverage over the weekend the announcers felt compelled to mention this every time Phil was shown on camera.  Hopefully no one was using this as part of a drinking game.  You know the one where you take a sip every time you hear the agreed upon phrase.  They surely would have been very inebriated by 11:00 on Sunday morning.    First off let me say I like Phil always have.  He and I have something in common.  He golfs left handed but writes with his right hand.   Do I feel sorry for Phil that he has never won the US open?  Not really.  The guy has won a lot of golf tournaments AND he makes a very good living play golf.   With that said, I understand his frustration. Is six times being the runner up better than finishing 1^st one time?   A true champion is never satisfied with second place.  However, there has to be a fine line in how you deal with this and what you are willing to accept.   Watching the final round on Sunday I kept seeing Phil miss opportunity after opportunity to pull ahead.  One shot here one shot there and the ending would have been different.   Did the thought of “here I go again” go through his mind. I am sure it did as would anybody in his situation.   In life we are all faced with decisions or situations where we come up short.  Many of these situations occur multiple times.   It’s what we learn from these situations that determine whether these misses were a part of a life lesson that helps us build toward achieving the desired goal or a life set back that leads us down a path of mediocrity. 

I hope that one day Phil gets this “elephant” off his back.  However if he never wins the US Open I hope he can at least say he gave it all he had and he did not let past setbacks undermine his future.