Dan O'Neill

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. - No reason to mince words. Phil Mickelson knows that for most people, two wins and six top-10 finishes in a PGA Tour season is an outstanding year. But he also knows for himself, that is not the case.

For Mickelson, who won three majors in a span of 12 months in 2005-2006, a year without a major is like a day without sunshine. He knows the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills this week is his last chance to pull back the curtain and open the shades.

“This is a big week,” Mickelson said. “Because right now, my season, with just two wins is, I think, OK. But if I were able to come through on Sunday and win this event, it would make an OK season a great one.”

Mickelson took a step in Sunday's direction with a first-round 70 in Detroit on Thursday. He isn't leading the tournament, there are several names in line ahead of him. But it's not important at this point that he be leading, only that he be leaning, favoring the top of the leaderboard rather than the bottom.

“What other guys do really doesn't matter,” Mickelson said, “because some will go up the leaderboard and come back. You know that par is a score that is going to be pretty good.”

Sunday is what matters and Sunday, Bloody Sunday, is what haunts Mickelson, what shadows his world. It was Sunday at Winged Foot in 2006. More specifically, it was the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open. Mickelson was four strokes away from winning a third consecutive major, stealing a significant portion of Tiger Woods' thunder and turning the penthouse of professional golf into a timeshare.

But he suffered that errant tee ball, that ill-begotten second shot, that suicidal double-bogey and the countless reminders since. It was Sunday again last week at the Bridgestone Invitational, when he bogeyed three of the last four holes, when he hit a couple more errant tee shots and when he suffered a few more Winged Foot rewinds.

The 38-year-old Mickelson has won five tournaments since the 2006 U.S. Open, including the prestigious Players Championship. But he has had only one top-10 finish in his last nine majors, a tie for fifth at the Masters last April.

Mickelson wants to put those types of Sundays behind him and put major championships back on his resume. “OK” seasons won't cut it. And while some might see last week's Sunday swoon as a pattern of behavior, Mickelson sees it as a prelude to better things.

“I feel like I hit the ball well all day (last Sunday),” Mickelson said. “It was just three or four holes there in the end, and even the 16th hole, I hit three good shots, just didn't get the ball in.

“So I don't really look back on it with too much negativity. I feel like I hit a lot of good shots throughout the day, drove it great, hit my iron shots close and I hit a lot of good putts that just didn't go in.”

In the first round at Oakland Hills, he did the same. He got around in a fairly efficient 29 rolls, missing a quick-breaking short one at No. 9 (his last hole) that kept him from posting a red number. Still, he overcame a shaky start — bogeys on the first two holes — to shoo away the clouds. The sun could still shine on his back door come Sunday.

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“I think after that start, it was pretty good to hang in there, fight and make some birdies,” said Mickelson, who made five birdies. “There were a lot of holes that were tough to get to. And yet, if you were patient, there were some pin placements you could get to. So I'll gladly take it."

There is no better time for “Mick the Stick” to take it. After winning the U.S. Open in dramatic fashion, Tiger Woods had season-ending knee surgery and he won't be back until next spring. Remove the top-ranked player in the world from the picture and opportunity has to be knocking for the No. 2 player.

It knocks much louder at the PGA than it did at the British Open. Across the pond, Mickelson is a fish out of water. He has one top-5 finish in 15 British Open starts. Putting Mickelson in Great Britain is like putting Brett Favre in a New York Jets uniform.

Whoops, sorry about that. Bad analogy.

On the other hand, Mickelson knows how to win a PGA, knows how to win on a golf course like this; he did it at Baltusrol in 2005. And please, no talk about asterisks. Such discussions presume that Woods would win if he were in the field. Yes, he has won 14 majors since 1997, but he has played in 47 of them. That computes to slightly less than 30 percent, not 100 percent, or even 50 percent.

Besides, if the contemporary golf snobs want to stick a qualifier on a victory this week, it matters little. In the grand scheme of things, it would count as Mickelson's 35th PGA Tour win, a number that ranks 13th on the career list. It would be his fourth major championship and advance his place in the history of the game.

Most importantly, it would put Bloody Sunday to bed, once and for all. It would re-established Mickelson as a formidable major championship component.

“I had an OK year in 2005 heading in (to the PGA) and looked at it as it would make an OK year great,” Mickelson said. “And I feel the same way this year. It's been an OK year, but winning the last major could turn it into something special.”

It could let the sun shine once more.

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