By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Chicago

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At 32 - 33 next Monday - Phil Mickelson is drawing near to what are generally regarded the peak years for a golfer.

But as he prepared to tee off in the first round of the United States Open at Olympia Fields near Chicago on Thursday it was hard not to think about Mickelson in terms of what has happened in the past rather than what might lie ahead.

Only Ed Dudley, an American player from the 1920s and 1930s, can match Mickelson's record of near-misses in the majors without ever winning one - he is up to 17 top 10 finishes, while Dudley managed 19.

This week's championship is Mickelson's 44th and while the tag of "best player without a major" is a compliment of sorts, he would happily pass it on to someone else. Colin Montgomerie, Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington or Sergio Garcia perhaps.

Mickelson knows how good he is, but asked this week if he felt lesser players had taken majors in recent years he knew there was only one sensible answer.

"I wouldn't touch that question with a 10-foot pole," he said.

Mickelson's latest flirtation with one of the sport's four biggest titles was the Masters in April. His third place was his third in a row at the event.

That one was different to all the others, however, in that his hopes of becoming the first left-handed winner of a major since Bob Charles at the 1963 Open were ended when Canadian Mike Weir triumphed in a play-off against American Len Mattiace.

Weir has subsequently overtaken Mickelson on the world rankings as well, but maybe it will now be like London buses. You wait 40 years for a left-hander to win and all of a sudden two come along.

And if it happens what about the chances then of a "Lefty Grand Slam" this season? Perhaps Australian Richard Green will win the Open at Sandwich next month and either Steve Flesch or Australian Greg Chalmers the US PGA in August.

Or possibly Mickelson, if successful this week, will be like a prisoner suddenly freed from chains and rattle off three victories in a row all by himself. Nobody doubts he has the game, but does he have the mental powers to recover from all the scars of majors past?

As each one slips by the pressure not to let the next chance go begging becomes more intense. Tom Kite and Mark O'Meara felt that into their 40s before finally succeeding at the 1992 US Open and 1998 Masters respectively.

"I have tried, especially in Opens, to be patient the first couple of rounds, not try to do anything too extravagant, just try to stay around par," said Mickelson, runner-up to Tiger Woods last year and to Payne Stewart four years ago.

"I think that has been a strategy that has got me in contention, but I think I may have to take a few more chances this week in an effort to get under par heading into Sunday - because I think the leaders will be.

"The way I deal with the expectations of me to win are to try to avoid it. I find that staying out of the environment is the best way."

But inside his head?

"I don't really worry about it," he insists.

Mickelson is the most high-profile player without one, although two others in the current world top 10 - Harrington and Jim Furyk - are in the same boat.

At the Masters, Mickelson has finished among the top seven the last five years and during that same period he has also placed second twice at the US Open - 1999 and last year - and had two top 10 finishes at the US PGA championship, including 2001 when he set the lowest total ever achieved in majors only for playing partner David Toms to beat it seconds later.

"I am feeling very comfortable in the major championships now," said Mickelson following the Masters.

"I know that if I just go out and play I'm going to have a shot on Sunday - and it's fun to have a chance at winning."

The 1999 US Open at Pinehurst might well have been his until fate intervened.

"Going into the last three holes, I felt I had it under control," said Mickelson. "All I needed was pars."

At the lengthy par-four 16th, however, Mickelson made bogey and Stewart holed a 25-footer for par to pull even.

At the short 17th Mickelson missed an eight-footer for birdie, then watched Stewart hole from four to take the lead.

"I knew I needed to make it and felt like if I did make it, I would be putting a little pressure on Payne," Mickelson said later.

"I knew he would still make his putt, but I would be even with him going to 18 and I thought 18 set up really well for me."

He was right about that. He split the fairway at the final hole and sent his approach 25 feet above the hole, while Stewart drove into the rough, laid up in the fairway and then left his third shot 15 feet below the hole.

However, Mickelson's birdie putt slid just past the hole and Stewart made his par attempt to win. Later that year he died in a plane crash.

Mickelson tells himself that it is not a case of he will win a major, but when.

"I do feel that way, I really do," he said after losing out to Woods by three last year.

"I feel as though eventually it will happen and the more I give myself chances the better the opportunities are."

He was world number two at the start of the year, but although he has yet to win in 2003 and has been falling down the rankings this would be the perfect week to change that.