Lefty's Game of Inches

It was a game of inches for Phil once again. (Credits: AP Photo)

As Phil Mickelson made his way up the 18th green after hitting a decent, but not miraculous recovery approach out of the rough, the crowd was raining "Let's Go Mickelson" chants down on him. Lefty knew that his next shot, which was his last chance to force a playoff, had to be nothing short of perfection for him to prolong what should have been his first U.S. Open title. Even in the face of what would be his sixth runner-up finish in the tournament, Mickelson couldn't help but crack a smile. It was, on the surface, a choke job as he led the field heading into Sunday, but it was slightly different from Phil's other down-the-tube Sunday's. This one had a different feel, and you could see it in the grin that he couldn't hide. Inches stood between Mickelson and that illusive Open title; it just wasn't his day.

You could feel it from the onset, Lefty just kept missing birdie putts by inches. Balls lipping out, just skirting by the hole. Phil wasn't putting well, but he also wasn't horrible. On the second hole he lifted a perfect shot out of the sand, which missed by an inch. It would've been an eagle, and instead he missed a not so easy birdie turn around and settled with par. For all the "Mickelson Moments" over the year, the double-putts, the god awful drives into the woods, this was certainly one of them. But it didn't feel as if it was that sort of moment and it also only resulted in a par. There was no real harm on the hole, just that he left two strokes on the board that shouldn't have been there.

The near misses continued on from Hole 3 all the way to Hole 9 before Mickelson finally dropped in a classic Lefty shot. Lifting a perfect approach shot for an Eagle, he had brought himself back to life and put thoughts back in people's head that he could do this. Phil later wasted that Eagle by Bogeying 13 and 15 before Justin Rose left him the opportunity to tie in on 18.

Then you go back to this moment, Phil walking up toward that approach shot on 18, everyone chanting his name. It's a moment we've seen with Phil before, he's seemingly the only guy that people chant for in golf. People act like they're at basketball game when Phil's in the spotlight and this time he couldn't help but break that smile. He knew he wasn't going to make that shot, that shot would be a once in a lifetime moment that would be up there with Bubba's blast from the pine needles and Tiger's absurd backspin chip. And yet even when the crowd knew it wasn't going to happen they were still rooting him on like he was the veteran turning the clock and putting on that throwback great performance in the NBA Finals. That's the sad reality with Phil, he'll always be just right there, so likable and yet so far away from what he should've been.

Maybe one day Mickelson will lift the U.S. Open trophy, but for now he'll simply be an inch here, an inch there and an inch from everywhere.