By Matt Slater Golf editor

Mickelson delight after USPGA win

Having reached the halfway stage of golf's career grand slam with his USPGA win on Monday, Phil Mickelson has said completing the set is his new goal.

The 35-year-old American birdied the last at Baltusrol to add the USPGA to the Masters title he won last season.

But now the left-hander is aiming to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only men to win all four majors.

"Winning all four would show I am a complete player," said Mickelson.

"I think there are different challenges to winning each major.

"The ability to hit the ball long for Augusta, the ability to drive it very straight and keep the ball in play at the US Open, the ability to keep it low and control it with the wind at the British (Open)."

I think that, at 35, I've got a number of years left, years left where my game can improve Phil Mickelson

That Mickelson is even able to contemplate joining the exclusive grand slam club is a testament of how far he has come since that win at Augusta in 2004.

Prior to that victory, the popular Californian had been saddled with the "best player never to win a major" tag for so long nobody could remember who held it before him. The Masters triumph came in his 47th major start.

To many observers it seemed that the parts of his game that delighted the galleries were the parts of his game that ruled him out as a major winner - namely, his go-for-broke style and high ball-flight.

But it was a slightly different Mickelson that finally joined the major winners' ranks. He was still long off the tee, but there was a great deal more thought to his club selection and course management.

That new approach was "rewarded" by another second place at the US Open - his third - a few months later, and by far his best ever finish at the Open, third.

THE GRAND SLAM CLUB Gene Sarazen Ben Hogan Gary Player Jack Nicklaus Tiger Woods And the one that got away gang Sam Snead (US Open) Arnold Palmer (USPGA) Tom Watson (USPGA) Lee Trevino (Masters)

It was that last performance at Royal Troon - in an event he had never looked even remotely like winning - that best displayed the "new Mickelson".

He had clearly added new - lower, more wind-resistant - shots to his arsenal and with them finally looked like getting to grips with the idiosyncrasies of links golf.

What had previously looked impossible, Mickelson's name on the Claret Jug, was now a real prospect.

Strangely enough, up until last week at Baltusrol, Mickelson was having a miserable season in the majors. The early form he had showed whilst winning three times on the PGA Tour amounted to very little in golf's biggest events.

But he is too good a player to stay in the shade for too long and he can now look forward to a renewed challenge on the remaining major gaps in his CV.

"I think that, at 35, I've got a number of years left, good years left where my game can continue to improve," he said after lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on Monday.

"I want to try to get better and better as my career goes on."

Mickelson's relief at finally winning a major was evident to all at Augusta

Of course, these sentiments are echoed by almost every champion, and Tiger Woods said something very similar after winning his 10th major title at St Andrews last months.

And Woods is five and a half years younger than his great rival and has already completed the career grand slam, twice.

But there is no denying that Mickelson appears to be getting better at this winning majors thing.

Ernie Els and Vijay Singh are both halfway to grand slam heaven too - and they have won one more major than Mickelson - but form and fitness, for Els, and age, for Singh, are conspiring against them.

Els certainly has the game to win all four - as a string of near-misses at the ones he is missing, the Masters and USPGA, would suggest - but does he have the will anymore?

Currently injured, the 35-year-old South African will need to rediscover his 2003-2004 form fast if he is to join his compatriot Player in golf's real "famous five".

And, at 42, Singh cannot cheat the passage of time forever - the Fijian's increasingly suspect putting on the big stage will not help, either.

So perhaps, after years of major underachievement, Mickelson is set to make it a "super six" - something the likes of golfing greats Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and Tom Watson could not.