Phil Mickelson makes honest Ryder Cup admission amid struggles since PGA Championship win

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Phil Mickelson believes he does not deserve a spot in this year’s USA Ryder Cup team based on his recent results. The 45-time PGA Tour winner – who has played in the last 12 Ryder Cups – was crowned a major champion for the sixth time, after he was victorious in this year’s PGA Championship by two shots ahead of South African Louis Oosthuizen.

However, despite becoming the oldest major champion this campaign the rest of his 2021 Tour season has been a struggle as the American has yet to finish inthe top 20 outside of PGA Championship win, with his next best finish coming in this year’s Masters after he placed in a tie for 21st.

Ahead of Ryder Cup selection the six-time major champion has three more events to force his way into contention for a place, and Mickelson believes he needs to perform at all three if he is to stand a chance of playing in his 13th consecutive battle with the European’s.

Speaking at this week’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational the American said: “I have three events (to go) and I haven’t had a top-10 outside of the PGA. 

“You can’t take somebody that is that inconsistent. I have three events, here and the two playoff events. And if I finish high in those events and move up on the list, you never know. But you have to have a little bit more consistency and momentum I think.”

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The American team for this year’s event at Whistling Straits in September is decided by six automatic qualification spots via the Ryder Cup standings, whilst the remaining six are decided by captain Steve Stricker.

As a result, ahead of the St. Invitational the automatic spots from the US rankings are held by Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele.

This group is closely followed by Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Harris English and Patrick Cantlay, whilst Mickelson finds himself well off automatic qualification in 17th.

Therefore it seems Mickelson’s best route into the event will be via Stricker’s six captain picks, which are decided following the completion of this year’s FedEx Cup after the Tour Championship at the beginning of September.

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To ensure qualification to the final FedEx Cup event, Mickelson will have to battle his way into the top-30 of the FedEx standings from his current position of 58th with the Northern Trust and BMW Championship still to play for the 51-year-old.

Therefore Mickelson is aiming for an improvement in form ahead of these final three events, to stake his claim for a spot at Whistling Straits.

He said: “I probably need to get there [the Tour Championship], play well and have some momentum. I need a couple of good finishes and then it would be easy to justify, but I think with no top-10s it would be tough to justify.”

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