Will Mickelson ever win a major?

Man, I really hate seeing this guy come so close and blow it at the end. He's really one of my favorite golfers. What's weird is what makes him such a good (and exciting) golfer to me is his willingness to take chances and play aggressive is the same thing that's killing him...

Can he tone it down enough to win, without losing his edge?

Will Mickelson ever win a major?

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- When he emerged from the scoring tent, Phil Mickelson looked like a boxer who had gone too many rounds. He had just signed off on another close-but-no-major finish at the Masters, and still appeared a little wobbly when wife Amy gave him a consolation smooch.

Now came another task that Mickelson was not looking forward to: Meeting with the media to trying and put into words what it felt like to suffer through the biggest disappointment of his career.

Make no mistake, Mickelson was having a difficult time feeling good about his third-place finish, three shots behind champion Tiger Woods, as he continued his quest for that slipper first major. There are no moral victories here, not when you've won as many times as he has on the PGA Tour (18) without winning one of the four majors.

"If I did not have an opportunity to win this tournament, I would be much more disappointed than I am now, where I at least had the opportunity and just didn't come through," Mickelson said. "But right now I am not thinking about the joy of having a chance to win."


Mickelson struggled with the flatstick all week.
Instead he was contemplating the frustration of being Slammed by Woods, who became the first golfer to hold all four professional majors at the same time. This was not the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, where as a runner-up he was consoled when winner Payne Stewart told him, "You're going to be a father!"

What was Woods going to tell Mickelson? "Hang in there, bud, because I may win so many of these I'll eventually get bored and then you'll have a chance for your first?"

Mickelson was asked if he ever felt he was saddled with the unfortunate role of playing his best golf at the wrong time in history. The world's No. 2-ranked player considered the question for a second.

"No, not really," he said.

Then he paused.

"Not yet," he said.

Certainly, nobody can blame Mickelson for wondering what does it take to finally win that first major. Had he made his birdie putt at No. 18 after Woods had clinched his two-stroke victory over David Duval with a birdie at the closing hole, Mickelson would have become the first golfer in the 65-year history of the Masters to have shot all four rounds in the 60s.

And he still would have lost.

Mickelson knew why he was in this situation. He had led the field with 27 birdies -- two more than Woods -- but he also led the leaders in the unofficial category of Most Shots Thrown Away. His pair of double bogeys -- at the 12th hole in the second round and the 14th hole in the third round -- proved to be the margin of difference. As did his four bogeys Sunday on what he admitted were easy-par holes.

"I cannot continue to make all the mistakes I have been making if I'm going to beat Tiger," Mickelson said. "I may be able to make one or two, but I can't keep throwing shot after shot away. I've got to eliminate those somehow."

While Mickelson's driver deserted him on the back nine -- his first two tee shots clanged off trees -- it was his short putter that deserted him on the weekend. He missed eight putts inside five feet, turning those putts into 50-50 propositions.

"I have missed a number of short putts, and I'm not really sure why," Mickelson said. "I feel like, day-in and day-out, I've become a more consistent putter. But the ones that I have missed certainly sting."

While Mickelson talks about how he and Duval have to improve another notch if they're ever going to beat Woods in a major, he also appeared to have a note of resignation. When asked if Woods won this tournament or he lost it, Mickelson said there seems a sense of inevitability in the outcome.

"He seems to do just what it required," Mickelson said of Woods. "I think that if I was making a run, I think he may have followed suit."

Mickelson had desperately wanted this final-round showdown pairing with Woods in a major, making a conscious effort not to watch Woods hit a single stroke Sunday. As if he needed to watch?

"I just looked up and saw the ball going in the hole," he said, "and just kind of expected that."

Amy knew the kind of mood her husband was in after the round. That's why she was quick to bring their 20-month-old daughter, Amanda, around for her own version of consolation.

"I thought it was important for him to see her face," Amy said. "Phil deserves to have a little pout today. There's a lot of depth to Phil. There are a lot of things in his life that make him smile."

Finishing third in a major is not one of them, however.

Mickelson has proven he can tangle with Tiger and walk away smiling. He outdueled Woods at last year's PGA Tour Championship, and also beat him in San Diego, snapping Woods' six-tournament winning streak.

But Mickelson knows that until he does it in a major, the rest are just trophies on his mantle and money in the bank. It was Mickelson himself who said he had been pointing to Sunday's final round for most of his life, which made the outcome even more bitter to handle.

"It's hard for me to put into words how I feel," Mickelson said. "Certainly I'm very disappointed because I felt like this was a great opportunity for me and I felt like I was ready."

Mickelson insists, however, he isn't resigned to the fact he's going to play Alydar to Woods' Affirmed.

Not yet.