No, he won't win the Grand Slam, but...

It's an interesting thought, Phil Mickelson winning the Grand Slam, raised here by Gary D'Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

This was to have been Woods' year, the first three majors, at least, setting up for him for like dominoes -- Augusta National, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews. Imagine were Mickelson, his rival and nemesis, to accomplish the feat instead?

He won't win it, of course. The odds are too great and Mickelson is too erratic. But there's this, at least: In 2006, he was one good swing at Winged Foot from winning his third straight major championship (he won the '05 PGA Championship and the '06 Masters).

Remember, too, his record at Pebble Beach, site of this year's U.S. Open, is stellar. He's won the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am three times and in 2000 tied for 16th in the Open there. The PGA Championship returns to Whistling Straits, where he finished T6 in the PGA there in 2004.

-- John Strege