Phil Mickelson: Final PGA Championship Predictions for Lefty

This is it: Phil Mickelson's last remaining attempt to win a major this year.

He, like so many of the other big names on the PGA Tour, has failed to impress on the biggest stages this year.

While the likes of Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have struggled during majors, guys like Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson and Ernie Els have made big and somewhat unexpected impressions.

But maybe this year's PGA Championship will be Lefty's big moment.

Mickelson's odds (via Bovada) aren't terrible, but they're not great, either. He's knotted with the likes of Keegan Bradley, Hunter Mahan, Bubba Watson and Graeme McDowell at 8/1.

He's far behind Woods and McIlroy, but considering how those two have fared in majors in 2012—even when the odds have been completely in their favor—that's nothing to worry about.

Historically, Mickelson has fared well at the PGA Championship. He won it all in 2005, marking this as the only major aside from the Masters that he's won in his career.

His recent play, however, raises some concerns. Overall, Mickelson has been solid in 2012—he won the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and has five top-10 finishes and seven top-25 finishes—but he's been on a downward spiral ever since withdrawing from the Memorial in early June.

The reasons for the withdraw have been kept quiet; some have claimed Mickelson was too distracted by fans in the gallery, others have said he simply wanted to make some adjustments before the U.S. Open. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that any potential adjustments have worked. 

Mickelson finished tied for 65th at the U.S. Open, and he missed the cut in his next two outings—the Greenbrier Classic and the British Open—before tying for 43rd at the Bridgestone Invitational last weekend.

But then again, right before he won the Pro-Am, he missed a cut and followed it up with a tie for 26th at the Phoenix Open.

You never know what could happen, but this one doesn't appear to be in Mickelson's favor. My prediction is a top-10 finish—but definitely not a win.

Here's what some of the experts are saying about Lefty's chances at the PGA Championship.

Gary Van Sickle, Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated

Sickle doesn't think Mickelson—or Woods, or Watson, for that matter—have any shot at winning at Kiawah Island this weekend. We all know Mickelson hasn't been playing his best, especially of late, but Sickle believes he probably isn't feeling 100 percent healthy.

And that's understandable—he is, after all, 42, which could explain his inability to stick around at the top of the leaderboard for the duration of these tournaments.

Lauren Deason, PGATour.com

Of the 11 staffers who made picks at PGATour.com, not a single one of them believes Mickelson has a chance of winning at Kiawah, and that includes Deason. She does, however, think there's hope for old Lefty—he's been tinkering with his game all year, and he's very close to rediscovering the form that carried him to that win back in February.

ESPN.com

Not a single writer or editor at ESPN.com believes Mickelson is going to win his first major of the year this weekend. Tiger Woods, maybe; Jim Furyk, sure. Even McIlroy got a couple of nods from the Worldwide Leader. But not Mickelson.

His mechanics are off, his momentum is nonexistent and he hasn't finished better than 65th in his most recent two majors. It's easy to see why Mickelson is flying under the radar heading into this one.