FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — This could have been Phil Mickelson’s week.

This could have been his Ryder Cup.

The 55-year-old six-time major champion who led an exodus to the breakaway LIV Golf league has more appearances (12) than any player in the U.S. vs. Europe event. He would have been a natural to captain the team at Bethpage Black.

Bethpage is the brawny muni outside New York City where the tradition of fans serenading him with “Happy Birthday” took off in 2002. It’s where Mickelson returned to golf shortly after his wife was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and where two of his agonizing six runner-up finishes came in the only major he never won, the U.S. Open.

“That’s where I felt things kind of clicked” with the New York fans, Mickelson said in 2019, before his return to the course

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