SPRINGFIELD, N.J. -- Phil Mickelson is running out of time to validate what quietly has been a good year, minus only a victory.He is not running out of patience.Mickelson expects the disappointment from his runner-up finish in the British Open to linger because of how well he played, only to lose to the lowest score in major championship history. He found himself thinking too much about results in the PGA Championship, and along with not making putts, he was never a factor at Baltusrol.Certainly, the play this year at the British tells me that Im able to play at a high level, said Mickelson, who turned 46 in June and is starting to check out colleges for his oldest daughter, 17-year-old Amanda. Im starting to see my game come back. Im starting to hit the shots again -- what Im visualizing, what Im seeing -- and doing it with ease now.He had only two winless years on the PGA Tour, 1999 and 2003, until going the last two years without a victory. The British Open wasnt his only close call. He missed a short putt at Pebble Beach to get into a playoff with Vaughn Taylor. He closed with a 67 to finish second in the FedEx St. Jude Classic. And then there was Royal Troon, where his 267 was topped only by Henrik Stensons 264 in British Open history. Call that a case of bad timing.Even so, three runner-up finishes is the most Mickelson has ever had in a year that he didnt win.Next up is a three-week break before he plans to play all four FedEx Cup playoff events. He has announced that after the Ryder Cup, he will play the Safeway Open that starts the 2016-17 season in Napa, California.I wouldnt say the lack of a win this year would be a failure, but it wouldnt be as successful as I want or expect, Mickelson said. However, Im optimistic heading into these next few events because Im starting to hit shots.Lost in this winless year is that Mickelson is on the verge of qualifying for his 11th straight Ryder Cup team. He has never been a captains pick. Perhaps even more amazing is that his passion is still high in his 25th year on the PGA Tour.Its been very frustrating for me when I arrive to the course and shots arent coming off, he said. Trying to hit fades and its drawing. Ball is not starting down my intended line. All those things have been very frustrating, but that has not been the case this year. The ball is starting down my line. The feel and touch is starting to come back. Im starting to shoot some good scores. So Im excited about where its going.---JACKS (NEW) STAND: Jack Nicklaus didnt understand why golfers would not want to go to Rio for the sports return to the Olympics after 112 years, and opinions grew stronger when Rory McIlroy said he took up golf to win championships, not grow the game.Nicklaus changed his mind, however, during the opening of The Golden Bear Grill last week in the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The 18-time major champion said he initially felt bad for golf when top players began withdrawing, thinking it was selfish on their part to not help grow the game.Then I started thinking more about it and thought maybe I shouldnt have said that because its not about that, Nicklaus said. They arent about growing golf right now. They are into playing golf. Im into growing golf because Im past my time. ... Ive taken the opposite side of my own opinion.---FAST START: Bryson DeChambeau tied for fourth in his professional debut at Hilton Head in April, and it appeared he would be a lock to go straight from college to the PGA Tour and earning a full card.Instead, that honor might go to Jon Rahm of Arizona State.He waited until after the U.S. Open to turn pro, and the Spaniard tied for third in his pro debut at the Quicken Loans National. Then, he tied for second at the RBC Canadian Open two weeks ago. He has yet to miss a PGA Tour cut in four starts as a pro. Rahm made the cut in four of the five PGA Tour events he played in college.The high finishes over the last six weeks enabled him to take special temporary membership, making him eligible for unlimited sponsor exemptions. Thats not a big deal because only three tournaments are left.Rahm is playing the Travelers Championship this week, and he is likely to finish the equivalent of top 125 on the money list to earn a full PGA Tour card. The last player to do that was Bud Cauley in 2011.Even if he gets his card, Rahm would not be eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs unless he wins, which would make him a PGA Tour member immediately.DeChambeau, meanwhile, still has work to do for him to avoid the Web.com Tour Finals. He missed four straight cuts after his tie for fourth, and only once has finished in the top 20. He also is playing the Travelers Championship.---RYDER CUP SHIRTS: Davis Love III is among the few who actually liked the Sunday shirts that Ryder Cup captain Ben Crenshaw had them wear at Brookline in 1999. They were maroon with old photos of previous winning U.S. teams, though that was hard to see from a distance.Either way, they worked, and thats why Love still keeps his shirts.Both of them, as it turns out, thanks to PGA of America manager Susan Martin.I got soaked with champagne, and for the closing ceremony, she gave me a dry one, Love said. So Ive got two. People always ask me, `Do you still have that shirt? I say, `Not only do I have it, I have two of them.---DIVOTS: With his tie for 13th in the PGA Championship, Jordan Spieth went over $25 million in career earnings. He turned 23 last Wednesday. ... The field average was under par for the final two rounds of the PGA Championship (69.907 and 69.337). ... Of the 18 championships held at Baltusrol, 17 have been won by Americans. The exception was Willie Anderson of Scotland in the 1903 U.S. Open. ... Jason Day was among five players who had all four rounds in the 60s at the PGA Championship, matching a record. There also were five players with all sub-70 rounds in 2014 at Valhalla and 1995 at Riviera. The difference? Day is the only player to shoot four rounds in the 60s two years in a row.---STAT OF THE WEEK: Steve Stricker has made 23 consecutive cuts in the majors he has played since turning 43.---FINAL WORD: You dont see too many overweight, smoking table tennis players. -- Padraig Harrington, on why he rates table tennis players ahead of golfers as athletes. Thats one of the sports he plans to watch at the Rio Games. Wholesale Jerseys . PAUL, Minn. MLB Jerseys .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/ . "I wrote 36 on my sheet at the beginning of the game," the Cincinnati coach said, referring the yard line the ball would need to be snapped from. China Jerseys . John Lucas, signed as a mentor for rookie Trey Burke, showed he can score if required, scoring 12 points of his 16 points in the second quarter as Utah built an 18-point lead. NHL Jerseys .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Gwen Jorgensen, the first American to win back-to-back world triathlon titles, could have been an accountant.She gave up on her Olympic dream as a teenager when she realized she couldnt swim fast enough and decided shed go to college. She spent three years on the swim team at Wisconsin, where she was an All-American and Big Ten track champion, and would parlay her masters degree and CPA into a job at Ernst & Young upon graduation.Then she got a call from Barb Lindquist, at one time the worlds top-ranked triathlete and a former Olympian. She told Jorgensen that she, too, could be a world-class triathlete if she took up biking and dedicated herself to the sport.Jorgensen thought back to her childhood dreams of being the next Amy Van Dyken or Brooke Bennett.I was glued to the TV when they had Olympic trials on like they have now. It was just something that I really loved, Jorgensen said. But I came to the realization at a relatively young age, in high school, that I would never go to the Olympics in swimming. I just wasnt good enough. I wasnt making any national teams. I wasnt even making junior national teams.So, I just thought I would never be an Olympian. And then when the USA Triathlon approached me, one of the first things they said was, `You could be an Olympian. And I was shocked. I basically laughed at them. I said, `No, I tried than when I was younger and I basically dont have what it takes.She gave it a shot in 2010 and realized Lindquist was right, she was a natural and her Olympic dream was back -- even if triathlon as a sport wasnt that familiar to her. But she was hooked in no time and a few years later qualified for the London Games, where she was a favorite.Thats where the wheel came off.A flat tire doomed her to a 38th-place finish and fed her fire to make amends in Rio de Janeiro.Every race is completely different and thats something that I like about the sport, you go into the triathlon and you have no idea what could happen on race day and you have to be prepared for anything, which I think really makes it a hard race, Jorgensen said.Throw in the massive hype, crowds and logistics at the Olympics and its even more unpredictable.Every race is different and the Olympics are more different, said Jorgensen, who iss a heavy favorite in the womens race Aug.dddddddddddd 18 at Copa Cabana Beach, where the mens race will be held Aug. 20.Jorgensen, whos from Waukesha, Wisconsin, has 17 career wins and 21 medals on the ITU World Triathlon Series circuit. The sports two-time defending world champion, she had an unprecedented unbeaten streak stretching from May 2014 and April 2016 that produced a dozen consecutive first-place finishes.To ensure maximum energy and optimal condition for Brazil, Jorgensen eased up on her competition schedule this year and participated in races that were closer to her training base in Victoria-Gasteiz, Spain.I have one goal this year and that is the Rio Olympics on Aug. 20, Jorgensen declared.Other things to know about triathlon at the Rio Games:SPEED BUMPThe 1,500-meter swim, a 24.9-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run on Copa Cabana Beach features a challenging hill thats sure to slow the competitors and could tucker them out.The course is really good. Its tough, said Jorgensen, who qualified for Rio by winning the triathlon test event on Aug. 2 on the course. Theres a big hill on the bike and I think that makes it an honest course and everyone is going to be tired. Its going to be interesting to see how quickly you run after ... that really hard bike ride.ALL TIED UPA photo finish at the London Games led to Swedens failed attempt to have the Court of Arbitration for Sport rule the womens triathlon a dead heat. CAS said the photo finish ruling was a field of play decision by the International Triathlon Union and couldnt be challenged.That left Lisa Norden with a silver medal and Nicola Spirig of Switzerland with the gold. Spirig and Norden finished side by side and were given the same time at the end of the race but officials ruled Spirig crossed the tape first.THE RESTSarah True and Katie Zaferes join Jorgensen on the U.S. team, which is by far the best in the world. Americans Greg Billington, Ben Kanute and Joe Maloy are longshots in the mens race, where Spain sports the worlds top triathletes in Mario Mola and Fernando Alarza, currently 1-2 in the ITU World Triathlon Series rankings. ' ' '