The Pinehurst Prediction

1999 Pinehurst No. 2. 2002 Bethpage Black. 2004 Shinnecock Hills. 2006 Winged Foot. 2009 Bethpage Black. 2013 Merion. Six second place finishes. It doesn’t seem possible. Phil Mickelson has dominated the U.S. Open over the last 15 years. The only problem is, every time the trophy has been presented, someone else has hoisted it. His last second place finish this past June at historic Merion was particularly tough. This is because he turned 43 on the day of the final round and history tells us that as a golfer approaches his mid to late forties his production goes down and, in particular, his chances of winning a major diminish rapidly. Even the most optimistic Phil Mickelson fan was left to wonder if Merion was his last real shot to win a U.S. Open. Maybe it was even his last real shot to win a major (well, not really, I fully expect him to contend at Augusta into his 50s, health permitting). It just didn’t seem right that a player of Phil Mickelson’s caliber would finish with only 4 majors and only 2 legs of the grand slam. He deserves to have that third leg. He deserves to have won one of those 6 U.S. Opens he came so close in.

Then something interesting happened. Something that the optimistic Phil Mickelson fan would only dare to dream about on rare occasions. He won the Open Championship. He now has 3 legs of the grand slam. Just not the 3 legs that people expected him to get since he has struggled for many years in the Open Championship. Phil Mickelson with 3 legs of the grand slam including the Claret Jug. That is enough to give any Phil Mickelson fan goosebumps. But what really sent shivers down my spine, and probably down the spine of many a golf fan, not just Phil Mickelson fans, is realizing where the 2014 U.S. Open is going to be played, Pinehurst No. 2.

Pinehurst No. 2 is where it all started. The site of the first of 6 second place finishes in the U.S. Open for Phil Mickelson. Not only that, the man that came in first that year was Payne Stewart. Stewart made a long putt on the final hole to beat Mickelson. After holing this putt, Stewart proceeded to keep Phil’s mind in perspective by reminding him that he was going to be a father soon (Phil’s first child was born the day after that U.S. Open). What makes all of this even more improbable is the fact that Payne Stewart passed away later that year in a plane crash and seemingly was meant to win that U.S. Open.

Coming in second in the U.S. Open a record 6 times certainly has been disappointing for Phil, but this opportunity that Phil has to complete the career grand slam by going full-circle and winning the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 is an unbelievable opportunity that would not have been possible if not for coming up short in the past. Phil completing the grand slam by winning the U.S Open at Pinehurst No. 2 is almost too perfect of a story. It is so perfect that I guarantee that Phil Mickelson will win the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. As we all know, life is not easy, and failures can be tough, but what really counts is what you do after the failures and, to a certain extent, past failures can even make future success sweeter. I am sure that when Phil does win the U.S. Open this year that he will agree that winning the 2014 U.S. Open was made sweeter by what happened at Pinehurst No. 2 in 1999, Bethpage Black in 2002, Shinnecock Hills in 2004, Winged Foot in 2006, Bethpage Black in 2009, and Merion in 2013.