Phil Mickelson feels close to form after Saturday 66 at the PGA

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Phil Mickelson is playing a game of “Chutes and Ladders” this week at the PGA Championship. 

On Friday, Mickelson playfully slid down one of the many faux dunes towering over the Pete Dye designed Whistling Straits. A day later, the five-time major champion climbed the leaderboard ladder with a third-round 66 that moved him past more than half of the weekend field.

Mickelson made nine birdies on the day, dropping three shots and sprinkling in six pars, including an impressive save at the finishing hole to match playing partner Jason Bohn. Mickelson, who hasn’t won a PGA Tour event since the 2013 British Open, believes it could have been much lower.

“With the three three-putts and a couple of other bogeys and mistakes that I made, it could have been in the low 60s and possibly broken the major record,” he said. “That would have been special, but you just can’t make those kinds of mistakes.”

Perhaps the secret was his playing partner. Mickelson pronounced Bohn as a personal favorite.

“He’s a fun guy and it really took off some of the pressure that I’ve been putting on myself to play well,” Mickelson said. “We went out and and we just kind of talked and laughed and I kind of forgot about the fact that I haven’t been playing some of my best in some time.”

Surely the company was great, but nine circles on the card will help most anyone have a great time on the course. And it showed, even more so than normal for Mickelson, who, after a great recovery shot on the sixth hole, gave the touring pro’s crowd acknowledgement wave to some folks anchored in a boat offshore on Lake Michigan. Wave where they’re cheering, right?

Mickelson is still too far back to be a real threat to win here. He might have been had he pulled off that unicorn of a 62 he described was possible, but instead he’s left to try to put one more good number on the board and build some momentum for the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Of particular importance for Mickelson, who entered this week at 56th in points, is the first two playoff events, The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, the latter of which is the cutoff to make the U.S. Presidents Cup team. Since its inception in 1994, Mickelson has never missed a team. As it stands, he’s 36th in points, with the top 10 qualifying. Mickelson flatly rejected the idea of being a wild-card pick of captain Jay Haas. He wants to play his way on, and this round provided some of that patented Mickelson optimism that he might manage to make it.

“I know that rounds like this tell me that I’m very close to having it click,” Mickelson said, offering some of the kind of verbiage that gets Tiger Woods skewered.

“If it clicks, I should be able to win one of those next couple of events and get myself right back up there in contention for the points,” he said.

That’s a big leap from one good round into the winner’s circle, and it’s been a common refrain for Mickelson to suggest the best is still yet to come. However, on Saturday, Mickelson may have convinced the most important person that his two-plus-year winless skid could soon be over: himself.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Follow @RyanBallengee

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