Golf

Mickelson looking for ‘Left Slam’

World number 11 hoping to turn form around at St Jude Classic before US Open

Only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have won all four major titles in their careers, an exclusive club Phil Mickelson has the chance to join at the US Open next week. Photograph: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Thu Jun 05 2014 - 01:00

Phil Mickelson will finalise his preparations for a first attempt at completing the "Lefty Slam" in the FedEx St Jude Classic in Memphis.

Only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods have won all four major titles in their careers, an exclusive club Mickelson has the chance to join at the US Open next week.

The 43-year-old’s victory in the British Open at Muirfield last year means he has completed three legs of the Grand Slam after previous victories in the Masters and US PGA Championship.

Only the US Open has escaped his grasp, with a second place to England's Justin Rose at Merion 12 months ago extending his own record of runners-up finishes to six. The left-hander's first chance to complete the Grand Slam will be in his 87th major appearance. It will also be at Pinehurst, scene of his first runners-up finish, in 1999.

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Sarazen was the slowest to win his Grand Slam, needing 40 events from 1922 to 1935 compared to 18 for Nicklaus and just 15 for Woods, but he did have the excellent excuse of the Masters not even existing until 1934.

Mickelson finished joint second behind Harris English at TPC Southwind last year, but has struggled to find top form this season, without a top-10 finish, and missing the cut at both the Masters and Players Championship.

The world number 11 is part of a strong field in Tennessee which includes former champion Lee Westwood and Ryder Cup team-mates Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell.

Westwood won on his tournament debut in 2010 – his second victory in the United States – and claimed a wire-to-wire win in Malaysia earlier this season, just a week after finishing seventh in the Masters.

McDowell has not played since finishing joint 62nd in the Players Championship in May, the Ulster man opting to miss the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth to spend time with his pregnant wife.

However, the former US Open champion is a fan of the course at TPC Southwind, where he finished seventh after a closing 63 in 2009.

“What I like about the course is that to me, it kind of reminds me of some of the European courses,” McDowell said.

“You have to give it a little bit of thought off the tee, you have to position it well and you have to be smart coming into these greens. It’s a good test.”

Pádraig Harrington and Darren Clarke will also be teeing up in Tennessee.