By Larry Fine
FARMINGDALE, New York (Reuters) - Phil Mickelson will probably skip next month's British Open in order to be with his wife Amy as she undergoes breast cancer treatment.
"I'm putting everything I have into this week because I don't anticipate being able to play for a little while," Mickelson told reporters on the eve of the U.S. Open.
Asked if he was ruling out playing at the Turnberry championship which starts on July 16, the world number two said: "Most likely.
"I would say probably August would be the earliest (I return to golf)."
The American said his wife would start her treatment on July 1.
"We'll have a great family vacation next week and we have kind of a game plan on moving forward," he said.
Mickelson, runner-up to Tiger Woods in the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage, said Amy had encouraged him to do well this week.
"She's left me a number of little notes, texts, cards, hints that she would like to have a silver trophy in her hospital room so I'm going to try to accommodate that," he said.
After his wife was diagnosed nearly a month ago, Mickelson took a short break from golf before returning for last week's St Jude Classic.
FAMILY BIRTHDAYS
"We wanted to get more into a normal pace of life, normal stuff that we do ... we had a birthday party on Monday for our daughter," said Mickelson, who also celebrated his 39th birthday at home the following day.
"We want to try to keep life as normal as we can."
Mickelson, who finished 59th in Memphis last week, said he had been working on his technique through visualization and talks with swing coach Butch Harmon.
"When Amy was going through tests and I'm sitting in a hospital for 10 hours I would think about a lot of things. But I would take a break and think about my golf swing. I would talk to Butch," said the triple major winner.
"Even though we didn't hit any balls I actually got my swing to where we wanted it ... and I'm very optimistic about my ball striking this week." Continued...
Source: Reuters
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