Everything seems to be perfectly arranged for a wonderful happy ending to a long story. The US Open, the third golf major of the year, will take place from Thursday to Sunday on the South Course of Torrey Pines, the public course in La Jolla, a district of San Diego where Phil Mickelson grew up. “It's the garden behind my house, a very special place for me,” the left-hander describes the two places on the Pacific coast. So it would be the ideal place for “Lefty” to finally complete the modern “Career Grand Slam” after six second places as the sixth professional on his 30th participation in the open championship of his home country, the victory in all four major events of the Year.

Four weeks after the Californian won the 103rd PGA Championship on the extremely difficult course of Kiawah Island (South Carolina) at the age of 50 as the oldest player to date, Mickelson is the sentimental favorite.

Because who would not treat the man who won his sixth triumph in one of the four majors, his 45th on the PGA Tour, thirty years after he first triumphed as a young amateur at the world's most important tournament series, another coup?

And that on the pitch where he won his first professional tournament in 1993.

Wouldn't Torrey Pines, where Tiger Woods won the US Open in 2008, as it was called "on one leg", would be the ideal stage for his closest competitor to finally win the title that had been cruelly denied him several times ?

Phone off, preparation on

Mickelson turned 51 on Wednesday.

He didn't celebrate big.

Since he missed the cut at the Colonial Tournament in Fort Worth (Texas) three weeks ago, marked by the battle of nerves on the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island, his whole focus has been on this US Open, perhaps the very last chance to finally close it win.

Mickelson, who now lives in Rancho Santa Fe, traveled the 20 kilometers from his home to Torrey Pines last week.

“I had the chance to prepare thoroughly.

I switched off all the noise around me, including my phone, in order to concentrate fully on this week and to give myself the chance to play my best golf this week. ”Mickelson knows best that this home game will not be child's play .

The golf senior has a love-hate relationship with the South Course. On February 11, 2001, Mickelson won the Buick Invitational, now called the Farmers Insurance Open, in Torrey Pines, his 18th success on the PGA Tour. It was the third win for the San Diego professional in his hometown - and the beginning of an emotional relationship in which affection turned into dislike over the years. Because this triumph twenty years ago was the last time that the crowd favorite held up a trophy on his home ground. Three months after this success, bulldozers completely plowed the South Course. The famous golf course architect Rees Jones should completely redesign this course to make it fit for the US Open.

Just one year after the renovation, the American Golf Association awarded the US Open for 2008 to San Diego in 2002. Tiger Woods, who first won in Torrey Pines in 1999, not only won this US Open despite a torn cruciate ligament and a fatigue fracture in his left leg, he also developed into the greatest beneficiary of the renovation and celebrated six more victories on the converted course. Mickelson, on the other hand, never found his best form on the new South Course, only once ten years ago, when he finished second behind his compatriot Bubba Watson, he had a chance of victory.

Mickelson's balance sheet over the past seven years looks particularly bitter. He missed the cut three times and achieved his best result in 2017 with 14th place. Once he even skipped the home game and preferred to play in the Middle East. But Mickelson suppressed these bad memories. “I've now spent more than a week on the pitch to get to know him again. I studied the greens for many hours, "said Mickelson, who also knows that fairytale victories in sport are extremely rare.

That's how the fans see it. With the bookmakers Mickelson, like the two Germans in the field, Martin Kaymer and the amateur Matthias Schmid, is listed under "also ran". At the top is the Spaniard Jon Rahm, who has recovered from his Covid 19 disease, ahead of the American defending champion Bryson DeChambeau and world number one Dustin Johnson.