In his first tournament after finishing in a tie for 18th at the US Open four weeks ago, Phil Mickelson did end the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond Golf Club T38. The only real thriller during the four days in Scotland was Phil’s magnificent hole-in-one during Friday’s second round.

That shot did spark a series of birdies and left Phil only five shots off the lead at halfway-point. However, nothing went into the right direction during the weekend and Lefty slipped off the leaderboard with rounds of 71-73. The title went to Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell who cashed in 630,000 € and secured his place on the European side for this year’s Ryder Cup.

In a post-round interview on Sunday Phil said that despite his poor showing at Loch Lomond he is looking forward to this week’s British Open at Royal Birkdale. He went there to practise for three days prior to the Scottish Open and thinks that the set-up of the golf course suits his game.

I will tell you more about the 2008 British Open and my personal favourites before the tournament kicks off on Thursday morning.

After opening with a round of even par 71 yesterday, Phil Mickelson today shot 67 in the 2nd round of the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond Golf Club. Halfway through the 2nd round he is currently tied for 28th laying five strokes behind former US Open champion Angel Cabrera. Not much exciting about this except for the hole-in-one he had on the par three 5th hole (his 14th of the day).

Playing at 198 yards Phil hit a five iron straight at the flag. The ball landed 12ft short of the pin, bounced once and rolled straight into the hole. Mickelson, who was presented with a bottle of champagne after his round, missed out on a $90,000 BMW sports car which went to Swede Pelle Edberg, who aced the 17th on Thursday.

Update (July 23rd): Finally someone uploaded a video of the shot on YouTube. Watch and Enjoy…

With the British Open only two weeks away, Phil traditionally caps off his preparation for the third major of the year by playing in the Barclays Scottish Open at beautiful Loch Lomond Golf Club, 30 miles from Glasgow. Designed by Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish, the 7,100 yard parkland course is considered to be among the ‘Top 100′ finest golf courses in the world. The tournament’s field is also of the highest quality: The entry list for this year’s event does include – in addition to Phil Mickelson - the names of Adam Scott, Colin Montgomerie, Ernie Els, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood.

Every year I am asking myself if it makes sense for Phil Mickelson to play in this event. The arguments are always the same: Some players – including Phil – will argue that it is important to get back into tournament mode and that competing at the highest level is the best preparation you can get, regardless of the sort of golf course you are playing on. Others – the most prominent example is certainly Tiger Woods – take the week before the British Open off and spend their time practising quietly on some remote English, Scottish or Irish Links course.

You also cannot neglect the fact the Barclays is one of Phil’s most important sponsors and that a participation in their event is certainly part of the sponsoring contract. But does this mean that once again money and commerce are more important than the sporting side of things? I always thought that winning all four major tournaments was the ultimate goal for Phil in his golfing career.

In 2007, Phil shot four great rounds to finish the tournament at 270 (-14) only to loose out to Frenchman Gregory Havret in a sudden death play-off. However, the next week at Carnoustie, Phil was not in such a fine form and – just like Havret - clearly missed the cut. To me this is just another indication that a good result in the Scottish Open does mean nothing for the British Open and that Phil might be better off not playing at Loch Lomond.

What do you think about this? Are four rounds on a parkland golf course the ideal preparation for a Major tournament being played on a links?

Other than that, the Scottish Open is one of my favourite tournaments of the year. The golf course is just fantastic to watch (even on TV) and the quality of the golf is incredible. Add that to Phil’s excellent record at this event and we’re up for a fantastic weekend.