LIKE his president, Phil Mickelson doesn't travel well. The world No 2 wins tournaments for fun in America, but has won only a fun tournament in Europe. Whatever Mickelson is remembered for it won't be the invitational Tournoi Perrier Paris.
Today, at Loch Lomond, Phil Mick may shake off the accusation that he only ever wins in his home country. He leads the Barclays Scottish Open by a shot from Gregory Havret, and this morning you'll get long odds from any bookmaker that the Frenchman, or anybody else for that matter, can prevent the 37-year-old from heading to Carnoustie in highly confident fettle.
"Winning this tournament would mean a lot to me," said Mickelson, "because I have not played as well out of the United States as I would have liked, and especially in Scotland, the home of golf.
"It would mean a lot to have a championship from here; that would be something special. I just think that it would be really cool. But there again, there's a lot of work to do before that happens."
While taking his point, Mickelson will be furious with himself if he doesn't win tonight. Havret is a good player who led this tournament at the same stage three years ago and is in a decent run of form, but he has one European Tour win - the 2001 Italian Open - to set against Mickelson's 26 PGA Tour victories, never mind his three Majors.
After Havret there is a gap of two shots to Englishman Steve Webster (whose only win was also in the Italian Open), but not until Ernie Els, five off the pace, is there a player remotely in Mickelson's class. It is, as the bookmakers have calculated, his to lose.
The leader also hinted he would try to give himself more chances in Europe in the future. "As our children get older I'm looking forward to travelling and playing more abroad because I want them to experience a lot of great things and cultures from different parts of the world," he said.
Presumably France will be a destination, but the Mickelsons won't run into Havret because he is now based in Dubai. He said he hoped to learn from his 2004 experience, when he was leading going into the last round but pulverised by fellow countryman Thomas Levet's 63.
Not only that but he only finished tenth on that occasion. "I am another man now, I hope," he said after yesterday's 70. One aspect which will encourage him is that he battled when he needed to, as epitomised by his scrambled par 4 at the 16th.
Unlike the first two days, when there was hardly a breath of wind and conditions were perfect for low scoring, it was apparent from lunchtime onwards that the 64 produced by South African Louis Oosthuizen could prove to be a very useful effort indeed.
There was already a freshness in the air when Oosthuizen set out in the first pairing, and by the time he finished his round four hours later the swaying branches of the trees demonstrated how much the wind was getting up. Not good news for the leaders, making their way to the first tee, but at least there was no repeat of the deluge that had been both heavy and prolonged the previous evening.
The wind made the conditions challenging, but even so Oosthuizen could never have expected to be propelled from joint-last of the 66 starters into a tie for fourth. It was a day for the leaders to hang on, and perhaps surprisingly this was a game plan Mickelson played along with.
Keeping his drives low, the world No 2 hit 13 out of 14 fairways and, had it not been for the risk-and-reward 14th hole, where most of the field were trying to hit the green from the forward tee, he would have had an unprecedented, for him, full house.
There were a couple of occasions, most notably at the third where, for the second day running, he found the water in front of the green yet splashed out for a scarcely believable birdie four, but overwhelmingly this was a round hewn out of solid oak.
Mickelson admitted his low drives would set him up in good stead for this week at Carnoustie, but first he will have to be careful not to drop his guard today. Havret may not be in his class, but when he bogeyed the second hole yesterday it was to be for the only time in 54 holes.
The round of the day, by a distance, belonged to Oosthuizen. His 64, with six birdies and an eagle offset only by a bogey on one of the easiest holes on the course, the ninth, was not only the joint-best of the tournament with Havret, but beat all the others yesterday by three shots.
Unaware of this when he finished, Oosthuizen had no notion he was going to end up on the fringe of contention and was more concerned not to be told the result of the earlier rugby test match between New Zealand and South Africa "I don't want to hear the score," he said, having obviously taped it. "Okay, tell me anyway."
Depending on how he fares today, Oosthuizen may have to cancel his flight home on Thursday to South Africa, where one topic of conversation would have been the 33-6 loss to the Kiwis. He could yet win the coveted last place in the Open field which will go to the top player, not otherwise exempt, in the top 10 tonight.
That will be the contest within a contest today, as several players in the top 10, including Havret, could secure a Carnoustie place as a consolation if they don't win - or indeed do.
One player certainly qualified for the Open as 1999 champion is Paul Lawrie, even if earlier in the week the American, Boo Weekley, had rather embarrassingly asked the Aberdonian if he was headed for Carnoustie.
Lawrie, along with David Drysdale (75) one of only two Scots to make the cut, had been in contention to win the tournament midway through the second round on Friday, but once again he was let down by an inward half which turned a promising round turned into a 74. Even so, he has done enough at Loch Lomond to suggest he could make a decent fist of the Open this week.
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