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. Air Max Scontate . 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. Air Max Italia . Russell Wilson against Darrelle Revis, former teammate Brandon Browner and whatever schemes Bill Belichick dreams up. Scarpe Air Max Outlet . -- Michael Phelps is 0 for 1 in his comeback to the pool. http://www.scontateairmax.it/ . The veteran NFL receiver received his work permit and is in Montreal for the start of the Alouettes rookie camp. Johnson even took in the Montreal Canadiens Game 5 win over the New York Rangers at the Bell Centre Tuesday night.So what would you rather have: a line-up with at least five players with 20 or more homers, or a starting pitching staff of five players with 13 or more victories? Its a no-brainer really. You take the pitching and run if you want to be a contender. Why did I throw out that comparison? Well, it related directly to the Blue Jays and the Detroit Tigers. The Jays became the first team in the Majors this season to have five players with at least 20 homers: Edwin Encarnacion (36), Jose Bautista (28), Colby Rasmus and Adam Lind (22) apiece and J.P Arencibia (20). On the other hand, the Tigers have five starters with at least 13 victories after Doug Fister won his 13th on Thursday. He joined the club that includes Max Scherzer (19), Anibal Sanchez (14), Justin Verlander (13) and Rick Porcello (13). All five have winning records and oddly enough Verlander, arguably the best pitcher in the American League, has the worst winning percentage with a 13-12 mark. The Tigers also have three starters who have cracked 200 innings: Verlander (206.1), Scherzer and Fister (201.1). The other two starters are pretty much a lock to break 180 innings. Health has certainly factored into this. Detroit has only had to use one other starter this season. Jose Alvarez went to the mound five times and was 1-4 with just one quality start while pitching only 34 innings. The improvement in Sanchez, Fister and Porcello has been dramatic over a year ago, and has more than made up for a dip in performance by Verlander this season. Sanchez, an in-season pick-up a year ago, was only (4-6) with Detroit. Fister was (10-10) and Porcello only (10-12). Its in quality starts where you notice the big difference in that trio. They went from 38 last season to 58 this season. That kind of production takes pressure off the bullpen and gives skipper Jim Leyland the valuable time to sort out his closer situation. By the way, Joaquin Benoit is 22-22 as the closer since taking over from Jose Valverde. I know wins arent the be all and end all for pitchers but to me, what the Tigers starters have done seems to be taking on historic overtones. The 1971 Baltimore Orioles were the last team, and the first since the 1920 Chicago White Sox, to have four 20-game winners. The Os quartet included Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, Mike Cueller and Pat Dobson. Yet there has to be something said for having five pitchers with 13 or more in this day and age. Lets compare them tto the last three World Series winners. Air Max Scontatissime. . The 2012 Giants only used six starters all season, like the Tigers this year. They had two 16-game winners in Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, Barry Zito had 15 and Ryan Vogelsong had 14, but Tim Lincecum struggled to a 10-15 mark. Edge to the Tigers. How about the 2010 Giants? They only had three starters in double digits in victories; Lincecum with 16, then Cain and Jonathan Sanchez with 13 each. Sandwiched in between is the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals. They had four starters with at least 13 wins including ex-Jay Chris Carpenter (21), Jaime Garcia (18), Kyle Lohse (16) and Jake Westbrook (13). Again, edge to the Tigers. Finally, what about the 2001 Seattle Mariners, who won a record 116 games and lost only 46. They had four starters with at least 15 wins, including Jamie Moyer (20), Freddy Garcia (18), Paul Abbott (17)and Aaron Sele (15). If you combine the other two prime starters, John Halama and Joel Piniero, you get 16 wins, but thats six starters, so for me, the edge still goes to the Tigers. Incidentally, as great as the Mariners were, they dropped the ALCS to the Yankees in five games. What does all of this mean to Detroit? Not much if they dont win the World Series but it may be a very long time before we see five starters put together a season like this. This and That The Baltimore Orioles still have a shot at a Wild Card slot. If they get there, their defence has to get as much credit as their offence. The 0s have played 115 errorless games this season and thats the best mark since 1900. Vernon Wells of the Yankees has played 1,726 Major League games without ever having played in the post-season. The only other active player with a long drought is Adam Dunn of the White Sox with 1,863. Sadly for Vernon, it was his former team the Blue Jays that pretty much snuffed out his hopes for another season Thursday night with that 6-2 win over the Pinstripes at Rogers Centre. Only fitting that the Dodgers should be the first club to clinch a division title. After a miserable 30-42 start that had skipper Don Mattingly worried about his job, L.A was 9 1/2 games back of Arizona entering play on June 22nd. From that point on, they went 58-23, including a 42-8 run at one point, and wrapped up the NL West with 10 days to play in the season. They also clinched right in the ball park of the second place DiamondBacks with a 7-6 victory. 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