Having said that, though, the left-hander heads into the final major of the year knowing there is only one favourite. And a very clear favourite at that.

Tiger Woods has won his last two tournaments, the first of them the Open at Hoylake when he amazingly used his driver just once in four days and the second of them the Buick Open when he put together four 66s in a row.

What Mickelson may need to remind himself is that this time last year Woods headed to Baltusrol on a run of third, second, second, first – the Open at St Andrews – and second.

Yet the main battle the world number two had there was with Dane Thomas Bjorn and Australian Steve Elkington, who left him needing a birdie at the par-five closing hole to land his second major title.

Which, with a deft chip to two feet, he duly did – while Woods, controversially, was already back at home having conceded on the Sunday night when play was halted because of bad weather that his two under total would not be good enough.

He was right, but only just. Bjorn and Elkington finished three under, Mickelson four. It left everybody wondering what would Woods have felt and said if, as was possible, he had been needed for a play-off and was over a thousand miles away.

Although Mickelson then added the Masters this spring the gap at the top of the world rankings has widened to a chasm again since and Mickelson accepts the position he finds himself in – best of the rest.

“The 10-year career that Tiger has had deserves the respect of all players and he is the number one player in the world, I would never question that,” said the left-hander.

“But I’ve had a lot of fun being able to compete head-to-head against guys like Tiger, as well as some other big names in golf. There’s a lot of strong talent on tour.”

Crashing out after two rounds of The International in Colorado did at least give Mickelson a chance to get to Medinah earlier than planned, but as is his way now a lot of the preparation had already been done and he would rather have continued competing.

“We all need to find out what allows us to play our best golf and it’s different for each person,” he commented.

“It took me a while to realise that I like to play the week before a tournament and like to come in a couple of weeks prior to scout the golf course and plan out my strategy.

“It takes me a little while to understand what shots I’ll need to hit and by playing the week before I stay in a competitive frame of mind and am able to carry that over to Thursday’s opening round.

“A lot of guys bring out their best game by taking the week off before a major (as Woods does) or maybe spending three or four practice rounds just prior to the tournament.

“It was really an idea from Dave Pelz (his short-game coach) for Augusta two years ago and it was actually the first major that I won.

“I then carried that over into the US Open at Shinnecock and the Open at Troon and I had two really good performances there.”

He was second to Retief Goosen, then only a shot of the play-off in which Todd Hamilton beat Ernie Els.

“Doug Steffen, the head pro at Baltusrol, and I played a round of golf together and he gave me a lot of little insights that certainly paid off.”

The talking point this week is that at 7,561 yards Medinah will be the longest course ever used for a major.

“It’s going to be important to get the ball in play, but you can’t do it with irons. You’ve got to drive your golf ball well and driving it 300 yards and keeping it between a 25-yard fairway is a very small miss.

“You just don’t have much margin for error there. It is intimidating, especially with the recovery shot, and the greens are so tough.”