HOYLAKE, England - Phil Mickelson rolled long putts across the practice green in front of the Royal Liverpool clubhouse, some of them going in, most of them the right distance. Randy Moss Vikings Jersey . He chirped to the caddie of Brandt Snedeker about their money game, a Mickelson tradition at the majors. Lefty was in good spirits Monday at the British Open, except for having to return the claret jug. Even that allowed him to reflect on a year of keeping golfs oldest trophy, and the confidence he finally has when he plays links golf. "Its a different feeling for me coming over here now having won this tournament," Mickelson said. "The way I felt was, Am I ever going to break through and play well on links golf and win an Open Championship? Now I know that I can. I know that Ive done it, and it takes a lot of pressure off me." Confidence in links golf? Yes. In his game? That takes a little more work. Not even Mickelson would have imagined when he left Muirfield last summer with the claret jug that he would not have another tournament anywhere in the world. This is the longest he has gone without winning in five years. And except for the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January, where he was runner-up, Mickelson hasnt been particularly close. He has missed three cuts. He withdrew twice after narrowly making the cut because of injuries in San Diego and San Antonio. At the Masters, where he is a three-time champion, Mickelson missed the cut for the first time in 17 years. His lone top 10 on the PGA Tour was last August at The Barclays, a tie for sixth when he closed with a 65. So why the smile? "Normally, I would be discourage or frustrated, but Im just not," Mickelson said. "I feel like Ive had some good breakthroughs in some areas. I havent had the results. I know I havent played well. But the parts feel a lot better than the whole right now. And I dont know when it will all click together. I dont know if it will be this week. I dont know if it will be in three weeks or a month or what, but it should be soon." Hes running out of time. Mickelson is No. 12 in the Ryder Cup standings. He has qualified for every team since 1995 — two years after Jordan Spieth was born. He has reached the FedEx Cup finale for the top 30 at the Tour Championship every year since it began in 2007. With only three starts before the playoffs begin, Mickelson is at No. 97. Then again, its easy for Mickelson not to be overly concerned. He is 44 and has been on tour for half of his life, compiling 42 victories on the PGA Tour and five majors, including that claret jug. Its at least been a good year for the jug. He has taken it to golf clubs and corporate outings, shared it with friends and people he had never met. He has let his caddie, Jim Mackay, take it to pose for pictures. Mickelson had only one rule. "One of the things I stressed is that we have to treat the claret jug with reverence and respect that it deserves, and only put good stuff in it," he said. "No bad stuff was allowed. And each person that I brought it to had a different definition of what the good stuff was." One definition was a bottle of 1990 Romanee Conti, which can range in price from $16,000 to about $35,000. "Now, I didnt know what this was when I drank it," Mickelson said. "I just knew that it was really good. And that was the best bottle that was ever put in there." Like fine wine, Mickelson can only hope he gets better with age. Even though he had to overcome arthritis in the middle of the 2010 season, and only eight players older than he is right now have won majors, Mickelson doesnt see that as an obstacle. Sure, he has to work a little harder, train a little better, stretch a little more. "But I feel better than I have in a long time," he said. Padraig Harrington is the last player to repeat as Open champion. Tiger Woods repeated at Royal Liverpool in 2006. Tom Watson won back-to-back some 30 years ago. Winning majors is difficult enough. Winning the same one two years in a row is even harder. Monday was the first full day of practice for most players, while some took the day off. Woods didnt show up at the course after practicing both days on the weekend. Some players from the Scottish Open werent at Hoylake. Others, like Spieth, arrived Monday morning on a charter from the John Deere Classic and went on to play. Mickelson closed with a 65 at Royal Aberdeen to tie for 11th in the Scottish Open. He won the Scottish Open a year ago, and believes the lag putting into a crossing wind, along with seeing the ball react on links courses is a big benefit. Plus, hes never been so enthusiast about golfs oldest championship, mainly because his name is on the trophy. Adam Thielen Jersey . The stress, the waiting, the whispers about whether he doped during his stellar cycling career, all of it ended when - after nearly two years - federal prosecutors closed an investigation of him last week without bringing any charges. Alexander Mattison Vikings Jersey . -- With Tony Allen back, the Memphis Grizzlies were able to turn up their defence pressure and hold off the Los Angeles Clippers down the stretch. http://www.thevikingsshoponline.com/Youth-dru-samia-vikings-jersey/ . - Roger Federer squandered a big lead and lost to No.OWEN SOUND, Ont. - Kyle Hope scored twice in the third period to lift the Owen Sound Attack over the Plymouth Whalers 2-1 in Ontario Hockey League action on Thursday. Hope tied the game with his 22nd of the season at 5:57 and scored the winner for Owen Sound (29-28-8) on a power play with less than six minutes to play. Matt Mistele was the lone scorer for Plymouth (27-31-7), finding the back of the net at 14:24 of the first period. Attack goaltender Brandon Hope stopped 25 shots for his 27th win of the season. Alex Nedeljkovic made 31 saves in the losing effort. --- ICEDOGS 5 STEELHEADS 4 (SO) ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — Luke Mercer scored once in regulation, then netted the shootout winner to lift Niagara over Mississauga. Eric Ming scored three goals and Blake Sienbenaler added two assists for the IceDogs (23-35-8). Sam Babintsev scored a hat trick for the Steelheads (23-37-6) and Brett Foy also scored. Spencer Martin stopped 39 shots. Brent Moran started in net for Niagara but left the game after giving up four goals on 31 shots. Blake Richard was perfect on 11 shots in relief. --- BATTALION 3 GENERALS 0 NORTH BAY, Ont. — Barclay Goodrow scored twice, including a short-handed goal in the first period, to the lead the Battalion over the Generals. Zach Bratina also scored for North Bay (35-24-6), which has won three in a row. The Battalion outshot East division-leading Oshawa 31-20, and both teams were 0 for 5 on the power play. Jake Smith picked up the shutout after making 20 saves, while Generals (41-18-6) goaltender Ken Appleby stopped 28 shots in the loss. --- COLTS 5 67s 3 OTTAWA — Andreas Athanasiou and Mitchell TTheoret each had a goal and an assist apiece to lift the Colts over the 67s. Alan Page Womens Jersey. Jake Dotchin, and Aaron Ekblad also scored for Barrie (36-28-3), and Brendan Lemieux added an empty-net goal at 19:49 as the Colts extended their win streak to three games. Nevin Guy scored twice for Ottawa (23-38-5) and Brendan Bell had a goal and an assist. Barries Mackenzie Blackwood made 21 saves while his 67s counterpart, Philippe Trudeau, stopped 29-of-33 shots. --- STING 7 RANGERS 6 (SO) SARNIA, Ont. — Nickolas Latta scored in the shootout, and Nikita Korostelev had two goals and two assists to lift league-worst Sarnia over Kitchener. Nikolay Goldobin scored two and helped on another, and Matteo Ciccarelli and Kevin Spinozzi also scored for the Sting (17-42-7), who snapped a six-game losing streak. Nick Magya had two goals and an assist for the Rangers (22-41-3), and Brent Pedersen, Mason Khon, Darby Llewellyn and Dominik Kubalik also scored. Logan Schmidt picked up four assists as Kitchener lost its 10th straight. Sarnias Taylor Dupuis made 31 saves. Jordan DeKort stopped 30 shots for Kitchener. --- OTTERS 3 SPITFIRES 2 WINDSOR, Ont. — Connor Brown scored twice, including the eventual winner at 11:08 of the third period, as Erie edged Windsor for its sixth straight win. Andre Burakovsky scored the other goal for the Otters (50-14-2), while Dane Fox and Connor McDavid each chipped in with two assists apiece. Ryan Foss and Josh Ho-Sang replied for the Spitfires (36-26-3), who have dropped their fifth straight. Erie netminder Oscar Dansk stopped 18 shots while Windsors Alex Fotinos shouldered the loss with 32 saves. 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