ARDMORE, Pa.—Phil Mickelson didn't get a U.S. Open Championship for his 43rd birthday like he wanted. He probably should have asked for a new putter first. 

Through his 18 holes on Sunday, Mickelson used his putter 37 times on the greens. Well, he used his actual putter 36 times, as he had to use his wedge to get the ball over a ridge on the 15th hole that, technically, still counts as a putt.

Thirty-seven putts. What a horrible birthday present that was.

There comes a time in a round of golf—four rounds, if you think about Phil's entire second-place finish at Merion—where the lip-outs and burned edges on putt after putt go from making a player feel great with his putter to wanting to throw it in the quarry.

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Ardmore, Pa. — Phil Mickelson takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the 2013 U.S. Open, but there are still nine players within five strokes of the lead heading into Sunday.

It's hard to win any major championship, but the combination of the major-championship pressure and the diabolical course conditions of this year's U.S. Open at Merion make the field fairly wide open entering the last day of competition.

Sure, Mickelson leads the tournament, but that doesn't mean he will still be in the lead by the time he finishes the first hole. With six players within two strokes of the lead, there is certainly no guarantee Mickelson will even have the lead by the time he tees off on Sunday.

Surely, given the way he has played this week and the fact he is leading by a stroke, Mickelson has to be the favorite heading into Sunday. That said, Phil has a pretty nasty history with the U.S. Open, finishing second five times with no victories. Heartbreak is all too familiar to Mickelson, even if Sunday is his birthday.

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ARDMORE, Pa. — Phil Mickelson is writing this story for us. Not literally, of course, as the man is probably too tired to come down to the media center at the 2013 U.S. Open to write a few hundred columns after shooting an even-par 70 in the third round to take a one-stroke lead into the final round on Sunday.

Actually, get your rest, Phil. We don't even need you to write this story for us. The story writes itself.

Mickelson is leading the U.S. Open after 54 holes with a chance to finally win the major championship he's always wanted to win but never could.

Mickelson will tee off in the final round of the U.S. Open on Father's Day after spending the early part of the week jet-setting back and forth to California to attend his daughter Amanda's eighth grade graduation.

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ARDMORE, Pa.—Phil Mickelson nearly holed out his approach shot on the par-four eighth hole on Friday, settling for a quick but incredibly makeable birdie putt instead.

Phil missed the putt. He wasn't happy about it at all.

Usually smiling as he cascades through the gallery, Mickelson was brooding, muttering to himself the entire walk to the ninth tee while carrying his putter, practicing strokes on the tee box as he waited to hit his next shot.

Phil hit a fantastic tee shot on the long par-three ninth. He missed the putt again.

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Ardmore, Pa. — Tiger Woods was asked if he liked his chances in the 2013 U.S. Open.

"Yes."

Woods should like his chances, sitting just four strokes back after play in the second round was suspended on Friday. Woods posted a 73 in the first round, followed by a tough, grind-it-out even-par 70 in the second round. This is U.S. Open golf, something Woods knows quite well.

Rory McIlroy should like his odds just as much as Woods. Both of the world's two best players—both former U.S. Open champions, too—posted the same 36-hole score, shooting three-over par for the first two rounds.

Both carded 73 in the opening round before grinding out equal 70s in Round 2.

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ARDMORE, Pa. -- In the days leading up to the 2013 U.S. Open, many people thought Merion was going to be too easy for these players, that this little, old, iconic patch of land tucked inside a Philadelphia suburb was no longer fit to host a tournament of this stature. 

Nobody told Merion.

Through the first round—which finished Friday morning after multiple weather delays halted play on Thursday—Merion is playing every bit like an Open course. A British Open course.

With the constantly changing weather, including damp conditions and gusty winds during much of the play Thursday and Friday, Merion Golf Club feels less like a course eight miles from the Delaware River and more like a course eight miles from the coast of the North Sea.

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Ardmore, Pa. -- Only Phil Mickelson can do what he does. Only Phil Mickelson would even dare to try it. 

 Phil finished second in the St. Jude Classic in Memphis on Sunday, flew to Philadelphia on Monday then took a flight back home to California later that day to attend his daughter's eighth grade graduation.

This is the U.S. Open; not some corporate-sponsored Pro-Am. Is he nuts?

Yes.

Mickelson took a red eye back to Philly on Wednesday night, landing around 3:30 in the morning for a 7:11 a.m. tee time. Did the man even sleep?

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Ardmore, Pa. — Philadelphia is notorious for its passionate and opinionated fanbase, so it was expected for Sergio Garcia to become a bit of a punching bag during the first round of the U.S. Open at Merion. Through his first three-and-a-half holes before the weather horn blew, the reaction was relatively tame. In a way, it was even a little cowardly.

The 11th tee was stacked with fans early on Thursday, but by the time Garcia's group reached its first tee, the crowd had thinned considerably, mostly following Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Keegan Bradley or the group after that with Matt Kuchar and Brandt Snedeker.

Still, the lure of seeing Sergio kept a good number of fans at 11, but it was, by and large, a positive reaction at the tee.

Most of the fans swallowed their inner "Philly" and acted like traditional golf fans, cheering for everyone but cheering louder for the players they actually like.

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