Phil Mickelson is looking forward to returning to golf after taking time off following news that wife Amy had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
'Lefty' tees it up in Memphis a month after wife's cancer diagnosis
Phil Mickelson is looking forward to returning to golf after taking time off following news that wife Amy had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The 38-year-old tees off at the St Jude Classic in Memphis on Thursday as he warms up for the US Open at Bethpage Black next week.
Mickelson has not played since the Players Championship on May 10 and admits that while he feels his game is not far off, he simply does not know how the mental side of his game will be affected.
"It is difficult to separate things at times," he said. "An interesting thing is I've never felt this emotional. I've never been this emotional, where if I'm driving alone or what have you I'll just start crying. It's kind of a weird thing.
"I'm looking forward to having a four or five-hour mental break where I force myself to focus on something else. I'm looking forward to that.
"I don't feel as though my game is that far off. But certainly I haven't played in a while," he admitted.
Not far off
"Certainly I had an emotional month, and I don't know where I will be on the golf course as far as being able to focus or being able to get another round. I don't know that yet.
"As far as the physical element of hitting a golf ball, chipping and putting, I don't think it's very far off, if off at all.
"I'm not playing just to play. I think Bethpage is a golf course that suits my game, that I love playing on that course, I love playing in the New York area.
"I'm playing here because I believe I can win next week. Again, there's a lot of question marks that I'll have. But that's the goal."
Mickelson and his wife have taken a collective decision for the left-hander to return to the course, and he took a first look at the venue for the US Open earlier in the week.
"I decided to play Bethpage," he added. "I got lucky with the weather. It rained early on, it cleared up. So I was able to get a good session in there.
"In 2002, Bethpage, it was an emotional experience for me then. I anticipate it being an emotional experience playing this year's US Open.
Fortunate
"My quest is to win my first US Open after four seconds, numerous close calls, me caring about this tournament so much.
"But right now I'm just fortunate that I'm going to be able to play and I hope to play well. I know that after that, I've got something going on that's more important and takes my mind off it."
Mickelson added that hopes are high that his wife will escape the cancer unscathed after it was caught in the early stages.
"Obviously we're going through a tough time right now," he continued. "We won't get started on our treatment until July 1.
"In the meantime, we're fortunate we believe we caught it early enough where we don't have to rush into decisions and we can make some good long-term decisions - decisions that will hopefully prevent this from reoccurring, as well as decisions that will hopefully beat this quickly. We're getting ready to get started.
"In the meantime, I'm going to play these two weeks. She's going to have a nice time here this week. My parents are taking the kids camping and she's going to have a little bit of time with a couple of her close friends and family."
