Mickelson in fine fettle in Scotland

In his career, Phil Mickelson has finished in the top ten at the U.S. Open a whopping ten times without a single win. A look at the chart below shows just how much Mickelson struggles on Saturday and Sunday at the national championship. In U.S. Open tournaments in which Mickelson has finished in the top ten, he has averaged a very good 0.6 strokes below par in the opening round. However, as the tournament progresses, Mickelson's average goes up, until he is averaging 2-over in the final round.

The Scottish Open has been cut to 54 holes for the first time in its history after more heavy rain on Saturday played havoc with the course and schedule.The Inverness region had more rain very early Saturday morning, causing local flooding including portions of the main A9 motorway that cuts through the northern Scottish city.This latest downpour further postponed the restart to the already delayed second round in the event being played on the Castle Stuart course just to the east of Inverness.

Phil Mickelson, warming up for his Masters title defense, fired his lowest round in two years Saturday to seize a share of the Houston Open third-round lead.Mickelson equalled the Redstone course record with a bogey-free nine-under par 63 for a 13-under total of 203.He was joined atop the leaderboard by fellow 40-something American Scott Verplank, who posted his second straight 65.Australian Aaron Baddeley carded a 66 and overnight leader Chris Kirk a 69 to lie one shot back on 204.

World No.1 Luke Donald believes competing on a links course at this week's Scottish Open will boost his hopes of capturing a first Major Championship at next week's British Open.Donald hasn't contested the Scottish Open since finishing in a share of fourth place four years ago at Loch Lomond."I haven't played the Scottish for a few years since it was back at Loch Lomond but I've always felt like playing links golf leading into the British Open is very important," he said.

Golf star Phil Mickelson has had enough of California taxes. He totaled up Federal and California state taxes and came up with 62%. What about sales taxes? Regardless, he has finally had enough of Taxifornia. Fox News reports Teed off: Golf star Phil Mickelson may bolt California over taxes

For better or worse, Phil Mickelson's career will always be measured against Tiger Woods. With yet another second-place finish at a major, it's clear that Mickelson's career will always be defined by what could have been. Mickelson's second-place finish at the U.S. Open was the sixth of his career, and it was his 19th top-3 finish at a major. And yet, only four of those top-3 finishes (21.1%) were wins.

Phil Mickelson served a timely reminder of his talents on the eve of the U.S. Open with a third round 65 Saturday at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis.