Phil Mickelson made his debut in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale 17 years ago. A prodigious talent, he had shown the world just how prodigiously talented he was six months previously by becoming only the fourth amateur in history to win on the PGA Tour when he beat Tom Purtzer by a shot at the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Ariz. He continued to impress throughout the spring and summer that year surviving the cut at the Masters, Memorial Tournament, and U.S. Open. A junior at Arizona State University, Mickelson was understandably full of the brazen, bare-faced bravado that would fill any 20-year-old after matching the best golfers in the world while also supposedly studying for a psychology degree.

As soon as he arrived at the course, Mickelson headed straight for the range and his first experience with links conditions. A good wind was moving in off the Irish Sea and the four-time All-American could barely get his 2-iron to the 150-yard marker. It was a rude awakening.

Fortunately, Mickelson teamed up with Ted Halsall, one of four Open Championship-winning caddies who grew up on the same Southport Street as each other and who knew every nook, cranny, trough, mound, rise, and borrow of the Lancashire links. Having carried for Johnny Miller at Birkdale in 1976 when the Californian beat Jack Nicklaus and a teenage Seve Ballesteros by six shots, Halsall was a very good man to have on the bag. Mickelson wisely leaned on his every word and, despite opening with a seven-over par 77, made the cut the following day with a fantastic 67. Weekend rounds of 73 and 71 saw him finish in 77th place, 16 shots behind Ian Baker-Finch. The performance didn’t shatter the Earth or even boggle the mind, but the kid clearly had some game and it wouldn’t be long, many thought, before the left-hander would be challenging for a Claret Jug or four.

Mickelson returns to Royal Birkdale this week the second best player in the world — a status he has enjoyed for a number of years — the winner of three major championships and 34 PGA Tour titles, but with a record at the Open Championship that even his mother would describe as abysmal. In 15 appearances, he has finished in the top-10 just once (Royal Troon 2004) and the top-25 on three further occasions. He has missed the cut three times, including last year at Carnoustie, when he opened with rounds of 71 and 77.

Not for the first time, Mickelson is saying he has at last developed the game and strategy needed to combat the frequent strong breezes and even more frequent strange bounces associated with links courses. And though he failed to live up to his own high expectations in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines four weeks ago, he has won twice this year and with 13 top-25 finishes in 14 events, he’s clearly benefiting from swing coach Butch Harmon’s input.

But for all his undoubted ability, it would still come as something of a surprise were Mickelson to contend this week. Given the brilliance of which he is capable, British bookmakers aren’t willing (or stupid enough?) to lower his odds too far — he’s third favorite at 14-1 — but most punters who have watched him struggle in Britain for the last decade and more will surely feel happier looking elsewhere for a potential champion.

If the first half of the season is anything to go by, that champion will not be much older than Mickelson or Ballesteros were when they first shone at Birkdale. It would appear the game is being taken over by youngsters, 20-somethings all inspired by Tiger Woods, who won his first major at 21 and whose absence this week removes a major psychological barrier for all those players unable to perform at their best knowing that Tiger is out on the course somewhere, no doubt scoring a whole lot better than them. Kenny Perry deciding to play in Milwaukee of all places rather than the Open, despite being the hottest player in the game, might ease some players’ fears, too.

Most British bookmakers’ favorite is 28-year-old Sergio Garcia, who lost in a playoff last year to Padraig Harrington. After suffering through rounds of 89 and 83 in his first appearance — at Carnoustie in 1999 — the Spaniard now has a good record at the Open with top-five finishes in each of the last three years. In May, he won the Players Championship with the sort of tee-to-green performance that wins majors and although his putting is still far from acceptable for a player of his class, he can evidently stroke it well enough to contend. If he can avoid all talk of the malevolent spirits that keep him from claiming major championships and revel in Woods’s non-attendance, as he did at Sawgrass two months ago, he can definitely win.

But so can many of the other players in their 20s. Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Australia’s Adam Scott must like their chances. Hunter Mahan can win it, as can the exciting Anthony Kim, who’s playing a links course for the first time but who benefited from a practice round with 1998 champion Mark O’Meara on Monday. Then there’s a strong crop of young Englishmen who will be looking to become Birkdale’s first British champion (at its eight previous Opens there have been three Australian wins and five American); Oliver Wilson, Nick Dougherty, Ross Fisher, who swept aside a stout field at the European Open recently, and Justin Rose, who tied for fourth here in 1998 at the age of 17.

To keep these players (and indeed some of the older guard: Mickelson, Harrington, Ernie Els, Lee Westwood) from embarrassing a relatively short — 7,180 yards — course, the R&A has altered 16 of Royal Birkdale’s holes since O’Meara won here 10 years ago. Twenty bunkers have been added, there are six new tees, new mounding has appeared on several holes, and the 17th green has been completely rebuilt on the side of a dune whose contours will create some wicked putts. It’s so controversial a redesign that club members are apparently in talks to restore the original green once the tournament is over. They’re also disappointed spring rain has made Birkdale much greener and more lush than they would have liked.

Whoever wins the 137th Open Championship won’t care how green the course was or how many times he three-putted the 17th green, of course. And though he’ll get asked about it for years to come, it’s very unlikely he’ll ever care that Tiger Woods wasn’t here.

tonydear71@comcast.net