Even as Runner-Up, Lefty's Still the Story

It is almost cruel at this juncture to even discuss Phil Mickelson and his quest to win a U.S. Open championship.

It would be far better to focus instead on Lucas Glover, the 29-year-old who has always been considered a star-in-waiting, finally figuring out a way to close the deal and doing so at a major. It would also be kinder to talk about the Open's two stories of redemption: David Duval, once ranked No. 1 in the world, was golf's invisible man for most of seven years, rising from a world ranking of 882nd to finish in a tie for second, perhaps breathing life into a career that appeared to be just about over at the age of 37. Ricky Barnes won the U.S. Amateur in 2002, outplayed Tiger Woods for two rounds at the 2003 Masters while paired with him and then spent five years flailing on the Nationwide Tour before finally getting his PGA Tour card at the end of last year by finishing 25th on the Nationwide money list.

There are so many other things that could be discussed instead of Mickelson. Certainly the rain that blanketed Bethpage Black for what felt like weeks rather than days will also come up when people look back at this Open. One could go on endlessly about Woods losing his chance to win a fourth Open title over the last three holes on Friday morning, when he inexplicably turned an even-par round into a 4-over-par round. He finished sixth, four shots behind Glover.

But the story of this Open -- with all due respect to Glover and Mother Nature and any story of redemption you might care to bring up -- was always going to be Mickelson unless he showed up, played listlessly and missed the cut.

But that wasn't going to happen. That would have been too easy, and easy has never been Mickelson's way. Had he played poorly, everyone would have given him a well-deserved pass knowing that his wife Amy is facing surgery for breast cancer next week. Even if he didn't say he was distracted by his concern for his wife, everyone else would have said it for him.

Of course that wasn't the way it happened. From the moment Mickelson first set foot on the grounds at Bethpage State Park on Wednesday morning, he couldn't take a step without being applauded and cheered and all but carried by the fans from tee to green. Any golf crowd would have been pro-Mickelson this week, but New Yorkers adopted him in 2002, the first time the Open was played at Bethpage Black, trying to will him into catching Woods on the last day if only because they wanted to see someone challenge Woods, who was about to win his seventh major in 11 tries dating to 1999.

Mickelson didn't catch Woods that day, but he put some suspense into what would have been a suspense-free championship, getting to within two shots on the back nine after trailing by five. The fans didn't forget the effort or the grace with which he accepted defeat -- he called it "the most amazing golf experience I've ever had" -- and every time he's come back to the New York area to play the Open he has been the home team, the one sports figure seemingly able to unite fans of the Mets and Yankees, the Jets and Giants, Connecticut and Syracuse.

Mickelson missed a short putt on the 17th green at Shinnecock in 2004, ending any chance he had of catching Retief Goosen, and finished second. He melted down on the 18th hole at Winged Foot in 2006, making double bogey to lose to Geoff Ogilvy by one shot.

Three New York Opens, three second-place finishes. Add that to his second-place finish at Pinehurst in 1999, when Payne Stewart rolled in his never-to-be-forgotten 15-foot par putt (appropriately enough in the rain) to beat him by a shot, and Mickelson was already the Buffalo Bills of the Open before this past weekend.

It is to Mickelson's credit that he keeps getting up and dusting himself off after getting knocked down. He was almost 34 before he finally won his first major, the 2004 Masters, at a time when a lot of people wondered if he would ever win one. He's spent the last 12 years in the constant shadow of Woods, knowing regardless of how sterling his career has been -- he's now up to three majors and 36 PGA Tour titles -- he would never match Tiger. That has to hurt, especially given the frosty relationship between the two men.

Last month, Mickelson took a hit that goes well beyond golf when he found out about Amy's breast cancer. Even though the doctors believe they caught the disease early, there are few words more terrifying than "we believe it's cancer" in the American language.

There's no doubt that Mickelson would gladly trade winning the Open for a guarantee that Amy will emerge from this ordeal with a clean bill of health. But he would have loved to have flown home from Bethpage and presented his wife with the Open trophy before her surgery. The made-for-TV movie probably would have start filming soon afterwards.