“Played my absolute best golf and it wasn't enough to win” - Phil Mickelson recalls his infamous 2016 loss at Royal Troon

Phil Mickelson is among the LIV golfers who will be playing at the Open Championship this year. Before this, he played at the Open Championship twenty-nine times. He won the tournament once in his previous attempts, when he defeated Henrik Stenson with a three-stroke lead in 2013.

But the tables turned in 2016 when Stenson defeated Mickelson by 2 strokes. Before the LIV Golf Andalucia event, Phil Mickelson joined a press conference, where he recalled the 2016 Open Championship. He shared how he tried his best that year but things didn't turn out right for him.

“Thanks for giving me [the] opportunity to talk about me losing. And it was really one of the fun events. The only time I can remember in my career where I played my absolute best golf and it wasn't enough to win…But yet I still really enjoyed that week. I still looked back on it fondly even though I didn't win,” Mickelson said (5:30-5:58).

He continued, “It's not about the trophy as much as it is the process that's what I remember. And my life experience is being in the middle of it and that's why we work so hard,” Mickelson said (6:10-6:16).

At the 2016 Open Championship, Phil Mickelson displayed a stellar performance from day one. In the first round, he dropped eight birdies and no bogeys to stand at 63. Then, in the second round, he had four birdies and two bogeys to score 69.

In the following round, he shot one birdie on the front nine and two birdies on the back nine. His score ended up at 70. Finally, in the concluding round, he dropped four birdies and one eagle on the fourth to settle his score at 65. With that, his final score was 267.

Other than Phil Mickelson, which LIV golfers are joining the Open Championship ground?

A total of seventeen LIV golfers will make it to the Royal Troon for this year's Open Championship. The list includes Phil Mickelson, and here are all the LIV golfers apart from him: Abraham Ancer, Dean Burmester, Laurie Canter, Bryson DeChambeau, Tyrell Hatton, Sam Horsfield, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Adrian Meronk, Joaquin Niemann, Angy Ogletree, Louis Oosthuizen, David Puig, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, and Henrik Stenson.

Out of all of them, four LIV golfers won the Open Championship in the past. They are: Mickelson who won in 2013, Henrik Stenson in 2016, Cameron Smith in 2022, and Louis Oosthuizen in 2010. The Open Championship battle begins next week and it remains to be seen who clinches the Claret jug after Brian Harman took it home last year.