Mickelson not close to being over runner-up in British Open

Baltusrol, designed by famed architect A.W. Tillinghast, has hosted seven U.S. Opens, two of which were won by Jack Nicklaus, and the 2005 PGA Championship, claimed by Phil Mickelson.

Rickie Fowler watches his putt on the fourth green during a practice round for the PGA Championship golf tournament at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J., Tuesday, July 26, 2016.

There are 25 flags – ranging from American stars and stripes to Ireland’s tricolor to Japan’s rising sun – that fly atop the leaderboard at the 18th green on the Baltusrol Golf Club course in Springfield, N.J. It is an global tableau that reflects worldwide reach of a game that will be contested as an Olympic event for the first time in 112 years in Brazil.

He even worked behind the counter at the fast-food restaurant.

He was inundated with interviews when he got home to Sweden, though he managed to squeeze in a few days of quiet time with his family before he came over to the PGA Championship.

The bearded Brit with the never-fading smile and jovial outlook is relishing his newfound popularity. He admittedly spent more time than he should have signing autographs and chatting up fans at Baltusrol – several of whom were wearing ginger beards in his honor. And he’s been all over social media.

“It just shows that you’ve got to keep on trying”, Stenson said.

It started when he was a 19-year-old trying to chase down Tiger Woods at Medinah. I’m able to play the game a lot stress-free. “Just for some reason, every time I get a little bit under the weather, I’ve got zero patience”. “We have a longer list maybe than you would think”. Don’t be ashamed to be different or anything, you know, that’s you. “And no matter who you are, where you are, where you’re from, people should embrace that”. Where some athletes might back away from interaction with the public as they seek their place in their sport, Johnston is all in.

“I think the assistant captains and I are going to be challenged, because we have so many factors like the Olympics that we haven’t really dealt with before”, Love said. I really do. If you can win one of the four every year, if you’re that good, you can do it. I think it is achievable. It was huge for me, of course, but for Swedish golf, as well.

“That’s a disappointing thing because I would have loved to have added another Claret Jug”. McRae described the most hard holes and why it was important to make the course a bit longer and adapt to the new technology in golf as well as the continuously improving players.

Westwood has 18 top-10 finishes in Majors in his 23-year career.

Except for the three players who have achieved the ultimate in golf this year by winning majors – Danny Willett at the Masters, Dustin Johnson at the U.S. Open and Henrik Stenson at the British Open – the PGA Championship is all they have left.

“It’s not ideal, I would say, at least for me”, Sergio Garcia said. “First thing’s first is the golf”. That’s what I grew up watching and where I wanted to be.

“I haven’t played a practice round”. But because we have big tournaments coming up right now and because I am playing well, I don’t want to let another really good opportunity that I have to play a PGA Championship here at Baltusrol at a course I like, while my game is sharp, and let the effects or disappointment linger.

“No, it’s all about the golf”. He looks ready to go, and he will find out Thursday what kind of traction he has. “I think he felt like he played as well as he did in the last Open (that he won) at Muirfield”. He knows that being himself is just as much a key to beating par as finding fairways and greens.

“I guess for me that’s positive because it shows me that I don’t need to be perfectly in form to still have a chance going into majors”. I got a little perfectionist in there that’s always been pushing me forward, and that can both make me and break me at times, when you’re striving to be your best.