Don't expect much from Mickelson at Royal Liverpool

	In his 13 starts in the British Open, Phil Mickelson has only one top 10 finish, a third at Troon in 2004. Harry How/Getty Images

When it came to preparing for the British Open, the world's top two players took vastly different approaches.

Tiger Woods enjoyed a week at the K Club in Ireland, with helicopter jaunts around the Emerald Isle playing Irish links golf and dabbling in a spot of fly-fishing between sessions on the driving range.

Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson participated in the ultimate finals cram session, grinding his guts out with eight-hour practice rounds in the hope that he can find the missing link that has eluded him in previous Open Championships.

If the Cialis Western Open from two weeks ago was any indication of the current status of their games, I think Phil is in a heap of trouble going into the year's third major. Let me tell you why.

1. Thoughts of the 18th are still festering.
Prior to his play last week, Phil told the media that he wanted to put his 72nd-hole meltdown at Winged Foot behind him and concentrate on the final two majors of 2006. To prove his point, Mickelson teased us with a fantastic opening round of four-under-par at Cog Hill ... and then exhibited some of the worst golf of his 2006 season over his final 54 holes. The U.S. Open meltdown is not behind him, because ...

2. Mental pictures are hard to erase.
Mental demons of majors being tossed away are nasty little buggers that find their way into every nook and cranny of a golfer's mind. Go back to 1966: Arnold Palmer blew a seven-shot lead with nine holes left in the U.S. Open. He then lost a playoff to Billy Casper the following day. Many said he was never the same after his meltdown, and Palmer never really contended in a major again for the remainder of his career. You can bet Mickelson's gremlins are having a field day.

3. Open Championships require adaptation.
Despite all the talk in the last couple of years about Phil dialing down his risk-taking, he can still be stubborn in his approach to the game. Conditions during an Open Championship require a player to adapt to his surroundings and play the way the course dictates. Sure, Phil's two-driver approach at Augusta served him well, but links golf is a whole different animal. Unless he learns to adapt -- and he hasn't shown much of a propensity to do that thus far at the Open -- the Claret Jug will never make it to his mantel.

4. Weather conditions will eat him up.
Those who have success and are able to win an Open Championship have learned to deal with wind, rain, sun and just about every other type of weather condition that taxes a competitor's skills. Phil is a high-ball hitter, while British Open rota courses tend to favor players who control their ball flight.