Lefty left with yet another ‘silver’

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Phil Mickelson knew he needed a truly special round to catch Jordan Spieth.

Instead, Lefty settled for a familiar spot.

Runner-up.

Mickelson closed with a 3-under 69 that left him tied with Justin Rose, four shots behind the wire-to-wire winner.

“It was just a good, solid round of golf,” Mickelson said. “I needed something exceptional.”

The 21-year-old Spieth won with an 18-under 270, tying the Masters record for lowest overall score.

Mickelson and Rose finished at 274, a score that would have been good enough to win the last three years and 70 of the 78 previous Masters. In fact, it was lower that Mickelson’s score in two of his three Masters victories.

“The fact is, I would have taken 14 under at the start of the week,” he said. “I played really well to shoot 14 under and I simply got outplayed by a young player who just played some incredible golf.”

On a resume highlighted by five major titles, it was Mickelson’s 10th second-place finish in golf’s biggest events.

It also completed a Grand Slam of sorts, one he would prefer not to have.

Mickelson has now finished second in every major championship.

This won’t hurt nearly as bad as some of the others, especially all those close calls in the only major Mickelson has never won, the U.S. Open.

At 44, Mickelson hasn’t played all that well in recent years on the PGA Tour. But he knows how to get up for the biggest events, having won the British Open in 2013 with a stirring final-round comeback, and finishing second in the last two majors going back to the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he was one stroke behind Rory McIlroy.

“I don’t have a great explanation other than I really focus on those events,” Mickelson said. “It’s not my motivation to go out and try to grind out wins week after week. I want to zero in on our four or five biggest events, and I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to get some of my best golf out of those events.”

Spieth dominated this Masters from start to finish. Mickelson started the final round five shots back and never got within four shots of the lead, even after holing out an eagle from the bunker at the par-5 15th hole. He was doomed by three bogeys spread throughout the round.