Maybe it was the karma, or maybe it was all those years of practice. “It was a shot I hit tens of thousands of times in my backyard,” Mickelson said.

Or maybe it was just typical for Mickelson to hit an atypical shot, an 8-foot flop that was so fine it rolled to within three feet of the flag. He had done it again, won his second major with a spectacular birdie, stayed true to form.

“We had some pretty thick rough in our backyard,” Mickelson said, “and that’s exactly what I was thinking on 18, that this is no different from what I’ve done in the backyard since I was a kid.

“The lie was OK, it wasn’t bad, but it was sitting down a little bit. And I went in aggressively, and the ball popped up beautifully and trickled by the hole. It was a great feeling to see it come out the way I wanted it to.”

This has been an unusual year for Mickelson — recognize the pattern? Before coming to Baltusrol, he had underachieved in the majors, finishing out of contention in all three. People were talking, suggesting he was the “same old Phil,” suggesting he was destined to be among the best players to only win one major in his career. The category has many distinguished entrants, such as Davis Love, Tom Kite, Fred Couples, etc.

“Even after Augusta, having not won a major or even come close this year, I didn’t doubt the fact that it would happen again,” Mickelson said. “I just didn’t know when.”

One remarkable L-wedge and one memorable week answered the question and changed the landscape. Mickelson is halfway to a career Slam. He has as many major championships over the past two years as Tiger Woods, and one more than Vijay Singh.

Mickelson is in a different club, the multi-majors winning club, and his future paints a different canvas. When the season starts anew next year, he will be on a par with the likes of Woods and Singh, he will be 35 years old, with the experience of winning two major championships, with the tools to win many more.

He will have won at Baltusrol not just because of his skill, but because of his strategy. He put his ego aside and adopted a right-to-left cut that produced less distance and more accuracy for the long, lean fairways and hard, fast greens. It was a curious thing for Mickelson to do, and it worked.

Slide show: The Week in Sports Pictures   Oct. 3 - 9 Images from the baseball playoffs, NFL, college football, and more.

Don’t be surprised if it works again and again. Perhaps the number of majors so many have expected from Mickelson will start to flow.

“You know, Phil deserves this more than anybody,” said Thomas Bjorn, who was left o the playoff alter, one stroke back. “He’s not a one-major guy, he’s a 10-major guy.

“He’s going to go on now and contend for majors the way he always has done, but it’s going to be easier and easier for him to win them now. And he deserves that, he deserves greatness. He’s come so close for so many years.”

Maybe in the years ahead, winning majors will become ordinary for Mickelson after all.

MORE FROM GOLF

Golf Section Front

Rain shortens LPGA Tour Championship to 54 holes Westwood wins Dubai tourney, money titles Brooks, Fowler lead at Pebble Beach Peter Senior wins Champions Tour Q-school Latest golf videos Latest player news, rumors and more Tracking Tiger: News, features and more Tiger's triumphs: Recapping all Woods' wins Vote: When will Tiger win his 15th major? Vote, discuss: Best major of 2009? Golf Section Front   Add Golf headlines to your news reader: