Phil Mickelson is well aware that his window to complete the career Grand Slam is getting slimmer and slimmer.
But the 54-year-old will attempt to complete the milestone with a major upset at next week’s U.S. Open, the only of the four major championships he has yet to win.
Mickelson acknowledged that this U.S. Open, which kicks off June 12 at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, could be his last chance at becoming the seventh golfer to accomplish the feat.
“There’s a high likelihood that it will be,” Mickelson said Wednesday at a press conference at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, where this week’s LIV Golf tournament is being held. “But I haven’t really thought about it too much.
This year marks the last of Mickelson’s five-year exemption into the U.S. Open field, which he earned by winning the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
Without the exemption, he would need to go through the qualifying process, a two-stage system that includes a local 18-hole qualifier and a final 36-hole qualifier.
Mickelson said he hasn’t considered whether he would be willing to go through that process in the future.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t thought that far.”
Mickelson has finished runner-up at the U.S. Open a record six times, although he has missed the cut at the tournament the last three years.
The San Diego native, who is a few weeks from turning 55, has won 45 PGA Tour events, including three Masters titles, two PGA Championships and one Open Championship in his legendary career.
The USGA announced a pathway for LIV golfers to directly qualify for the U.S. Open in February, which could give Mickelson a shot at an exemption for the 2026 tournament at Shinnecock Hills.
An automatic spot will be awarded to the leading golfer in LIV Golf’s final individual standings from this year — if they are not already exempt.
Mickelson is currently 15th.
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