How Phil Mickelson was one hole from being a career grand slam winner like Rory McIlroy 

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Rory McIlroy became the sixth-ever player to achieve the career grand slam by winning the 2025 Masters.

But Phil Mickelson may feel strongly that he should have achieved it first, and he was one hole away from doing exactly that.

Mickelson, a six-time major winner, has won almost everything there is to win in the game. He’s a three-time Masters winner, two-time PGA Championship winner, and won The Open Championship in 2013.

But the word “almost” is a painful one in Mickelson’s case. He has been a runner-up at the U.S. Open a record six times, and it’s the only major missing in his trophy cabinet. He should have won it in 2006, but he collapsed on the final hole.

Phil Mickelson’s 2006 collapse cost him the career grand slam

The 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club was a brutally tough test for the entire field. Mickelson entered the final day five over par, but was still tied for the lead.

Despite a difficult start to his Sunday round, featuring three bogeys in the first five holes, Mickelson steadied the ship down the stretch and led by one going into the 18th. Also in contention and just one shot behind him was Australian Geoff Ogilvy, going for his first major championship win.

Ogilvy parred the final four holes, an impressive achievement around this golf course, meaning Mickelson needed a par to win the tournament.

But instead of pulling out a 3-wood or iron off the tee, Mickelson went driver. It was a decision he would immediately rue. His drive sliced left and smashed into the hospitality tent.

He could then have chipped back onto the fairway and taken a bogey to force a playoff. But Mickelson stayed aggressive. After a long wait, he went for the green, hitting a tree which stopped his ball just 25 yards in front.

Now he needed to find the green and two-putt for bogey. However, disaster struck again, and Mickelson’s second attempt at finding the putting surface landed him in the bunker. He was unraveling.

Mickelson faced a plugged lie for a long bunker shot, needing to get it up and down. But he has one of the best short games ever, so he would have backed himself. What no one expected was for him to fire his shot past the pin and off the back of the green.

His chip-in attempt from the rough went long, too, and Mickelson had thrown away the U.S. Open to Ogilvy. “I’m such an idiot. I just can’t believe I did that,” was his reaction afterwards.

Mickelson’s form in the mid-2000s meant everyone expected him to get over the hump and win the U.S. Open eventually. That should be a warning for Scottie Scheffler.

Scottie Scheffler shouldn’t take U.S. Open win for granted

Winning two major championships in a dominant 2025, Scheffler is now a U.S. Open away from being a career grand slam winner. After the year he’s had, that seems like an inevitability.

But Scheffler’s poor Ryder Cup performance revealed cracks in the world number one’s armour. His putting issues, which had plagued him over the last few years, resurfaced as he became the first player to lose his first four matches in a Ryder Cup.

When a player is dominating like Scheffler, it feels like they can never be beaten. Conversations about what could possibly end this dominant run are already being had. But no one foresaw the end of Tiger Woods’ run, just as no one thought 2006 would be Mickelson’s best chance at a U.S. Open win.

If any lesson can be learned from Wingfoot, it’s that nothing is guaranteed in the game of golf. Scheffler’s career slam is far from inevitable.