Phil Mickelson looks to rediscover form at Shriners Open

Phil Mickelson is a five-time major champion with 44 PGA Tour victories, but he’s coming off a career-worst stretch of play.

At least that’s how he describes it.

“I wasn’t mentally sharp or focused the last five or six months, and it led to some very poor play,” Mickelson said this week at the Safeway Open in Napa, California, before missing the cut by two shots. “I’m taking a little bit of a different route this time.”

Mickelson is part of a strong field for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which begins Thursday at TPC Summerlin. Brooks Koepka, the world’s top player, and defending champion Bryon DeChambeau also are among the field.

Mickelson started the year by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, but then missed seven of the season’s final 16 cuts with a best finish of 18th at the Masters.

The 49-year-old didn’t qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship of the FedEx Cup playoffs, and the struggles have endangered his streak of playing for the United States in each Presidents Cup since 1994. He has won 26 Presidents Cup matches, the most all time.

“I’m physically able to do it, my game feels sharp and the touch is there,” Mickelson said. “All of the elements are there and yet I haven’t been pulling it out.

“(It’s) probably the worst six months of my career, and I’m determined to fix it.”

Besides refocusing his mental approach to golf, Mickelson has spent the offseason getting in better shape. Through a fasting regimen and a stringent workout routine, he has lost about 30 pounds. He has chronicled the process on Twitter, where he became a social media phenomenon last year and has more than 450,000 followers.

“What it’s done is my energy level is a lot higher,” Mickelson said. “Toward the end of the round I feel good now. I don’t feel as tired, and I’m able to practice a little bit harder and not get as worn out. So all of those things lead to me being very optimistic about the upcoming year.”

Phil Mickelson last played on a Las Vegas golf course in November at Shadow Creek in “The Match.” That’s when he made a birdie on the third extra hole to defeat Tiger Woods and win the $9 million winner-take-all prize.

The last time he played a Las Vegas PGA Tour event was 2005, when he missed the cut. He has played in Las Vegas 12 times, earning $763,903 with a best finish of second in 2000.

“I have always enjoyed TPC Summerlin,” Mickelson said. “I think it’s a golf course that you can play very aggressively.”

Off the course, Mickelson has intriguing ties to Las Vegas and gambler Bill Walters, who was convicted of insider trading in 2017 and is serving a five-year prison sentence in Florida. Walters and Mickelson were good friends, but had a falling-out over the allegations.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Mickelson made almost $1 million after a Walters stock tip about Dean Foods in 2012. Also, according to prosecutors, Mickelson gave the profits to Walters to cover gambling debts. Mickelson agreed to pay the money back when the Securities and Exchange Commission sued him, but refused to testify at trial.

Richard Wright, Walters’ attorney, told ESPN last year that if Mickelson had testified, it would have been helpful to the defense argument and would have revealed that Mickelson was not guilty of any wrongdoing.

“In my judgment, it would have helped us,” Wright said. “I can’t say, ‘Oh, that means we absolutely win or anything,’ but it would have made someone else’s credibility an issue. And it just adds up.”

Mickelson has declined to address the trial publicly.

Freelance writer Brian Hurlburt can be reached at bhurlburt5@gmail.com or @LVGolfInsider.