Jamie Squire / Getty Images file

Phil Mickelson's double bogey on the final hole of last month's U.S. Open cost him a chance at going for his fourth straight major title in the British Open.

Mickelson is so consumed with majors now that he gave a halfhearted effort at the Western Open, conceding that his mind was on the British Open. This is nothing new. Even at the Memorial, he was working on a new 64-degree wedge that would come in handy at Winged Foot. He usually plays the week before a major to get into a competitive frame of mind, but pulled out of the Scottish Open so he could spend more time at Hoylake.

As for that U.S. Open debacle?

“I’m not ever going to forget it, that’s obvious,” Mickelson said. “But what I’m not going to do is let it affect negatively my performance in upcoming majors.”

He knows the Palmer story well.

They played a practice round at the 1991 Masters — Mickelson qualified by winning a PGA Tour event as an amateur — and got to the 18th hole when Palmer told him, “Right there. That’s where it happened,” recalling his double bogey in ’61 that cost him a small slice of history.

“Here it was 30 years later,” Mickelson said. “He still remembered it, and it still fired him up.”

The scrutiny of Mickelson figures to be at an all-time high at the British Open.

He started his professional career by going 0-for-42 in the majors, but that was more a matter of not playing well enough to win. Mickelson never so much as held a 54-hole lead in the majors until he won his first one at the 2004 Masters.

Winged Foot made him look bad, linking him more with Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie than Palmer at Augusta National because the Frenchman’s follies were fresher memories.

Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson joined a parade of second-guessers, both speaking from the experience of losing majors, although nothing quite that spectacular. Along with his 18 majors, Nicklaus was a runner-up a record 19 times, and said what he learned was “you don’t ever give up the end of a golf tournament.”

“You’re playing to win, not be a hero,” Watson added. “The only person you have to beat is yourself. And he beat himself.”

Slide show Woods' world As these images show, there’s more to Tiger Woods than simply golf more photos

Tiger Woods also watched the final round on television after missing the cut for the first time in a major. He thought the guy who should be kicking himself was Colin Montgomerie, who made his double bogey from the middle of the 18th fairway at Winged Foot.

Woods had his own collapse a year ago at the Masters with bogeys on the last two holes, although he recovered by winning a sudden-death playoff. He bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes at Pinehurst last year and wound up two shots behind U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell, then won the next major by five shots at St. Andrews.

Will Mickelson be able to put this calamity behind him?

“I don’t know. More than likely, to stay competitive you have to,” Woods said. “Failure is a part of our sport. It’s nothing new to him, nothing new to any of us. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, come back out the next week and play.”