Phil Mickelson believes Oakmont provides his best chance of winning the US Open to complete the career grand slam, as long as conditions "cross the line" between difficult and unfair.
Mickelson has finished runner-up in the year's second major championship a record six times, most recently when he shared the 54-hole lead at Merion in 2013 but went on to finish second behind Justin Rose.
A month later, the left-hander won his first Open title at Muirfield to leave himself needing to win his national open to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in having won all four majors.
Mickelson has already described Oakmont as "the hardest course we've ever played" and labelled the greens far more difficult to putt on than those at Augusta National, venue for the Masters.
"All that being said, I believe it also gives me the best chance because you have to really know how to play this style of golf," said the five-time major winner, who celebrates his 46th birthday on Thursday and would surpass Hale Irwin (45) as the oldest US Open champion.
"It's just not like a regular Tour event. It's not like going out and playing golf at any other golf course. This is a whole different style of golf, something that over the years I've become very effective at playing.
"Because of that I would love to see it cross the line the way US Opens often do and become a little bit over the edge. That actually benefits me because we're going to have a winner at the end of the week. Whatever that score is, who cares if it's five under or 12 over, doesn't matter; the lowest score wins."
Asked how important it is to win the grand slam, Mickelson added: "Well, I could BS you and tell you I don't think about it. No, I think about it all the time. This is the tournament I want to win the most to complete the four majors.
"I have to put that out of my head and try to execute and be patient and not think about results. You start thinking about results, you'll never play your best golf.
"But there's no question that starting this year and every year here forward until I ultimately win this tournament, it will be my biggest thought, my biggest focus, because I view those players that have won the four majors totally different than I view all the others."
This is a whole different style of golf, something that over the years I've become very effective at playing.
Mickelson has not won since lifting the Claret Jug at Muirfield and hit the headlines for the wrong reasons last month when he agreed to forfeit nearly $1million that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said was unfairly earned on a tip from an insider trading scheme conducted by a former corporate director and a professional gambler.
Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges against a gambler named William Walters and the former director of Dean Foods, Thomas Davis, alleging that the pair used inside information about the company to make millions of dollars in illicit stock trades between 2008 and 2012.
In 2012, the SEC says, Walters called Mickelson, who owed him money, and urged him to trade Dean Foods stock. The SEC says Mickelson did so the next day and made a profit of €830,000.
Mickelson refused to comment on whether he had been contacted by the PGA Tour regarding possible sanctions, but added: "I've got to be more careful in my associations going forward and so forth. But I don't really have much more to add.
"I think after a multiple-year investigation which led to nothing, no charges or anything, I think that that kind of says enough for me.
"I've actually known for months what was going to happen and I'm just glad that it finally is out and over with and behind me. So it might have something to do with the fact that I've played well the last two weeks (finishing 20th and second), and I feel like I'm playing stress-free and much better golf."
Aside from the opportunity at Merion, Mickelson was runner-up in 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009, famously matching Colin Montgomerie in making a double-bogey on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot in 2006 to finish a shot behind Geoff Ogilvy.
"My most disappointing failure is going to be Merion because I was playing so well there, even though I look back at '06 as my most heartbreaking because I was only a hole away," Mickelson added. "Merion I felt I should have had."
