Pain has become a problem for Mickelson

TULSA, Okla. – Beneath a blistering sun and surrounded by cheers, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson climbed the steep hill together toward the clubhouse at Southern Hills.

They were separated by some 30 yards. And they could not have been farther apart.

This was Saturday at the PGA Championship, the final major of the year. Mickelson was on the 18th green, finishing another round over par that left him in the middle of the pack. Woods was making the turn on the adjacent ninth green, on his way to winning another major.

The scene spoke volumes of their divergent seasons.

Only three months earlier, Mickelson was walking up another hill toward the sprawling clubhouse of the TPC Sawgrass, his arm draped around the shoulder of swing coach Butch Harmon after a victory at The Players Championship.

It set the stage for what figured to be another run at the world’s No. 1 player.

What followed was Lefty’s lost summer.

“My performance in the majors has been disappointing,” Mickelson said as he sat in front of his locker, a tinge of gray hair starting to show around the ears. He is 37, still in his prime, but an age when lost years are tougher to get back.

An injury to his left wrist at the end of May caused him to withdraw in the middle of one tournament, pull out of two other tournaments and was a big reason why he missed the cut in three tournaments.

Some of the lowlights:

“He finished over par in all four majors for the first time.

“He failed to record a top 10 in the majors for only the second time.

“Since turning pro in 1992, Mickelson had missed five cuts in the majors. This year he missed the cut in two.

Most of this was out of his hands, if not his wrist.

He says the injury stemmed from one of his marathon practice sessions for a major, chipping constantly out of the thick grass at Oakmont a week before the U.S. Open. Whatever the case, he couldn’t play as much as he wanted or practice how he wanted.

Those close to Mickelson said he could not swing without pain until a week ago. He is starting to hit balls without wincing, but what makes him shudder is the calendar. This is the time of the year when Lefty goes into hibernation.

Instead, he plans to play four straight weeks during the FedEx Cup playoffs, the Presidents Cup, and then two weeks off before an unusually busy schedule in the fall.