Phil Mickelson shows his true colours at US Open with generous act as last day goes from sunglasses to security
Lefty may never grace the tournament again after he agonisingly missed cut
Phil Mickelson's last acts at a US Open may have been to talk sunglasses and hand out gifts to security officers before departing Oakmont with no fanfare.
The golf icon and LIV star looks to leave the tournament for good having never won it and, with that, not getting a career Grand Slam.
Mickelson's final misery at the US Open came when he missed a putt in the rain on the final green of his second round which would have saved him from missing the cut.
The star, who turns 55 on Monday, will need to qualify in the future or be handed a special invite from USGA chiefs to participate.
Mickelson's knows it might be his last appearance at the Major that always eluded him, but, before getting in his car and getting out of the place, he dished out goodies to officers who had walked the 18 holes with him around Oakmont.
Before he got going for the last time, he spoke spectacles with Ben Griffin as the recent Charles Schwab Challenge winner said: 'He was wearing a different pair of sunglasses, but was getting ready to put on the same models that I wear, the Uswing Mojing sunglasses.
"He started wearing them four or five years ago. I think his first week might have been when he won the PGA Championship.
"The sunglasses are designed for golf and he pointed them out and I was like: Yeah, where are yours at?
"He was getting ready to put his on. He was wearing some flashy Raybans or whatever to warm up in.
"But, yeah, Phil is a great guy, it was good to talk to him.'
Griffin knows it might be Mickelson's last and added: 'Yeah, unfortunately my memories of him are not winning because I know he needs it for the Grand Slam. Growing up as a kid watching him and Tiger [Woods] battle it out and some other big names was really cool.
'Phil is a guy that I definitely watched throughout my junior golf and throughout childhood and was a good guy to kind of follow and be inspired by.
"I think Tiger kind of stole the show for most of my childhood, just the way he was so dominant and winning majors. It was pretty inspiring.
'I think that's why the talent level is so good nowadays, especially with kids coming out because we're kind of the first generation of guys that grew up watching Tiger and he made golf really cool and there's why there's such a huge influx of new golfers and the talent pool is getting bigger.
"Whereas when Tiger first came on Tour, there was a lot of golfers still and a lot of high-quality golfers, but I think nowadays the pool of people that play competitive golf is just way higher.
'Because of that, it's way more difficult, and you're not seeing too many dominant players, except for maybe Scottie Scheffler.'
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