Phil Mickelson Making Statement with His Game at Royal Troon, Not His Fashion

Phil Mickelson has never been afraid of ad-libbing on the fly, taking the adventurous path seldom traveled or availing himself of the latest gadgetry to help him save a few shots.

Over the past fortnight, he's managed to combine all three in breezy Scotland.

For the second time in two starts in the United Kingdom, Mickelson on Friday showed up to play with a large, metal paperclip affixed to his golf cap, a seat-of-the-pants adjustment borne of practicality, not style.

"Just trying to keep it in place," Mickelson told reporters. "I know it looks terrible, but it is what it is."

If he continues to blow the lid off the Open Championship, they'll be selling them in pro shops around the world by Monday.

Following up his record-tying first round at Royal Troon with a solid, two-under 69, Mickelson heads into the weekend with a one-shot lead over Swedish star Henrik Stenson.

Mickelson first used the metal clip last week at the Scottish Open at another seaside locale, Castle Stuart, where the 40 mph wind was almost unplayable at times. He creatively pinched the binder clip onto the outside of his hat in an attempt to make it smaller, a spontaneous use of what was packed in his suitcase. MacGyver, who was probably Scottish, judging by his surname, would have been proud.

His longtime agent and former coach at Arizona State, Steve Loy, is probably calling the CEOs at Staples and Office Depot right now, hoping that they stage a duel over a potential endorsement deal.

Other adjustments were required. Despite intermittent heavy rains and a persistently annoying breeze, Mickelson managed to retain the lead in his bid to claim a sixth major title and second Claret Jug. That meant wearing a full-body raincoat and donning gloves on both hands.

For a native of sunny San Diego, where the annual rainfall can be measured in a shot glass, Mickelson has come to embrace the rigors of links golf on the Scottish seaside, where the weather can switch from sizzling 70-degree summer temperatures to a 50-degree chill in 24 hours. As Thursday and Friday proved.

Mickelson, whose putt for a record-busting 62 in the first round lipped out on the 18th green, giving him a share of the lowest score in majors history, followed with another creditable effort in the Scottish gloom.

"It felt pretty good, the conditions made it tough," Mickelson told the Golf Channel. "I enjoy that challenge. I enjoyed it last week at Castle Stuart. It's fun."

Ben Curtis/Associated Press

That never used to be his mindset. Mickelson, a notoriously high-ball hitter whose game didn't travel well outside the United States, had an epiphany a few years ago when he realized he could handle the challenge of the ground-based links game after all.

He became tactical and practical, leaving the big sticks in the bag for hours at a time. Friday, he hit a driver on the par-five fourth and never touched it again, instead using an assortment of irons and fairway clubs in a bid to find fairways.

Full-throttle Phil begat micromanaging Mickelson. He finally broke through to win at Muirfield in 2013 after a couple of near-misses, including a gritty performance at Royal St. George's in 2011.

At the latter, after starting the final round five shots behind eventual winner Darren Clarke, Mickelson matched the lowest score of his majors career with a 30 on the opening nine, despite brutal weather conditions. Some thought it was the most impressive nine he'd ever logged, given his previous futility at the event.

He finished tied for second, but it became a psychological springboard. In fact, Mickelson picked up a few new tricks, despite the defeat. That was where he first donned weatherproof gloves on both hands, tools he used to help survive the final 10 holes of Friday's showers at Troon.  

Nick Faldo, a three-time Open Championship winner working this week as a TV analyst, quickly christened him "Mickey Two-Mitts."

Despite the conditions, Mickelson bettered his previous 36-hole score at the Open by a staggering six strokes.

"For the most part, I kept the ball in play and played kind of stress-free golf," he said.

In a certain fashion, the weekend represents untraveled terrain for Mickelson. Before this week, he'd never held the overnight lead after any round at the Open Championship, despite 18 previous trips.

So what happens next?

A quarter-century into a career that had made performance-related Lefty predictions akin to tossing darts in the dark on the deck of the Titanic, Mickelson missed the cut at the first two majors of 2016. Moreover, he climbed into the top 10 midway through the second round last month at the U.S. Open but cratered coming home and was sent home early.

While he has five major titles on his Hall of Fame resume, Mickelson has converted only one of five chances when holding the 36-hole lead at a Grand Slam event. Last year's leader at the halfway point in Scotland was Dustin Johnson, who shot 65-69, yet eventually finished T49.

But there's no question that Mickelson has an unusual spring in his step this week, even at age 46 and in the throes of a three-year winless drought. In fact, he sounded like a teenager when describing how his tee shot on the par-three eighth hole spun backward and stopped about two inches from being an ace.

"This was tasty here, it had a few skips and it had the spin," Mickelson told the Golf Channel with a grin as he watched a replay. "From my vantage point, it was right online as it was coming back. See that little delayed juice? I like that. It almost went in, if it had a little bit more sauce."

A win this week would make Mickelson the second-oldest player ever to hoist a British Open trophy. But for believers in harbingers, it's already been a good week for graying frontmen in the United Kingdom—news broke Friday from nearby England that Mick Jagger, at age 72, is expecting his eighth child.

Mickelson's big sister, Tina, has about had her fill of the age thing. Evidently, her wine glass is full, too.

Once a guy who tried to play the links game using his powerful American artillery, Mickelson is finally grasping the more nuanced European game and taking care of the small things. For instance, he's played the eight par-three holes in five-under for the week.

To a degree, his Open mental makeover began at Troon in 2004, when he finished third and developed a fast fondness for the place.

"This was the first course that I really played effectively links golf," he said. "That's where it really kind of turned for me, this is where it kind of happened. This is where I stopped trying to overpower the golf course, where I accepted playing it as it's designed, if you will, and not trying to find a new, better way to beat the course other than just straightforward golf. That's probably why I love it so much."

He spent several hours in the gloaming on Tuesday night working on the speed of his lag putts on the wet, unusually slow Troon greens. It seems the fans have sensed his level of investment in the game's oldest major, too.

While his track record with the 36-hole lead at the majors is hardly commendable, Mickelson said there's no sense of urgency or desperation this week, since he won the title three years ago at Muirfield. In fact, that represents his last tour victory, period, which is why many wonder whether he can hang on for two more days.

"I think it's a lot easier for me, having already held it," he said of any perceived pressure. "When I go to Augusta, knowing that I've already won there and I'm in that champions group for the dinner, and coming back every year, it takes a little bit of the pressure off.

"This challenge of winning the Open here, probably the greatest challenge of my career, and I've already done it, takes a lot of the pressure off."

Steve Elling covers golf for Bleacher Report. You can follow him at @EllingYelling. All quotes are firsthand unless otherwise noted, and transcripts courtesy of ASAP Sports.