Phil Mickelson drops trophy, raises his confidence level

Not everything went smoothly for Phil Mickelson at the Scottish Open.

Just after winning the tournament in a playoff, Mickelson was posing for photographs with his family when he dropped the trophy.

That probably won’t dampen his spirits heading into the British Open this week, where he hopes to continue the momentum he built over four rounds of solid golf at Castle Stuart Golf Links.

“Well, certainly it’s a confidence booster,” Mickelson said of his victory in Scotland. “It certainly helps my play on links golf.”

The oddsmakers have Tiger Woods as an 8-1 favorite to win at Muirfield. Mickelson isn’t too far behind at 16-1. Adam Scott, Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy are also favored to be at the top of the leaderboard.

Mickelson figures the weather and other intangibles could be factors.

“You need some good breaks with your tee times; I had some good weather with my tee times this week,” he said. “You need some good bounces. You just need a little bit of luck, as well as good play.”

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