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Mickelson, who was 1-7-1 in the two previous Ryder Cups, is now 1-1-2 at Valhalla, accounting for more points in the bluegrass state than he managed at Oakland Hills and the K Club combined.
Still, there are doubts about his state of mind heading into singles play on Sunday. Mickelson will be in the fourth group out, facing Justin Rose and seeking his first singles win since 1999.
In 2002, he lost a pivotal match to Phillip Price, ranked 119th in the world at the time, at the Belfry. He was beaten by a pair of Spaniards, Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal, in the European routs of '04 and '06.
Azinger insisted there's no concern about Mickelson falling short again.
"I'm not worried about Mickelson's mind-set at all," the captain told reporters late Saturday. "My message all week long to you guys is anything that happened in the past is in the past and has no bearing on what's going on."
Azinger's only advice to Mickelson will be of a dietary nature. Lefty apparently went through quite a spread before his loss to Price six years ago.
"I hope it's not three waffles, two eggs and a Diet Coke," Azinger said. "I heckled him about that already."
Mickelson was paired with Kim for two matches Friday - at Lefty's request - and the duo worked beautifully together, high-fiving each other all the way around the course. Twice, they rallied from three-hole deficits, pulling out a halve against Padraig Harrington and Karlsson and winning 2-up over Harrington and Graeme McDowell.
Saturday morning, the tables turned.
Naturally, Mickelson was eager to get back on the course, and Azinger obliged. Justin Leonard, who putted brilliantly in his match to help earn a half-point, might have been the better choice. But he, too, knew Lefty was eager for redemption after helping blow such a big lead.
"You certainly wouldn't think those guys would lose that match," Leonard said. "I think that's one of the reasons Phil wanted to go back out, because that's going to leave a bad taste is his mouth."
He can only hope it's not there Sunday night.
