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— Mickelson was always gracious in defeat. "The putts that Payne made on 16 and 18 showed what a great champion he is," Mickelson said in 1999 after Stewart rallied to beat him at Pinehurst.
Garcia still acts as though the world is out to get him.
The opening question Sunday evening was whether Garcia, three shots clear of Harrington when they made the turn, was thinking that he was finally going to capture his first major.
"Next question, please," Garcia bristled. "Let's keep this as positive as we can, please."
He later suggested that some players — namely, Harrington — are more fortunate.
"They get in contention in a major and manage to get things going their way, either because they play well or because somebody else comes back," he said. "And unfortunately, it hasn't happened to me. I feel like I played well enough to win probably more than two majors throughout my career."
One thing Harrington had in his favor was experience and the ability to make putts under pressure.
No one imagined anyone capable of going 66-66 over the final two rounds at Oakland Hills, although Saturday's rain delay made the greens soft enough to allow such scoring.
Even so, it was the most clutch putting performance over the final three holes of a major since Stewart at Pinehurst No. 2.
Stewart was one shot behind on the 16th hole when he made a 25-foot par putt down the hill. Then came the par-3 17th, where he knocked it to 3 feet for birdie to take the lead. And after finding trouble off the tee and choosing to lay up on the 18th, he hit wedge to 15 feet and made the par putt for a dramatic victory.
His opponent that day was Mickelson, who overcame that to go three straight years winning a major.
There's hope for Garcia.
