Mickelson salvages pride with singles win, but still hurting over outcome

Phil Mickelson salvaged some pride on Monday with his first win in the Ryder Cup, a 4 and 3 pounding of Sweden’s Peter Hanson in singles. The world’s second-ranked player finished the team portion of the matches 0-3. That pushed the total number of losses in his eight Ryder Cup appearances to 17 -- one more than Raymond Floyd and the most by a U.S. player. “Every one of us can look back on a match and say that this could have been the deciding factor, that could have been the deciding factor,” Mickelson said after the U.S. lost 14 1/2 - 13 1/2. “I want to try to be a leader, and the best way to lead is through play. … And when I didn’t win any of my first three points, I felt more disappointment than I’ve ever felt, because this was an opportunity for us to win here in Europe,” he said. “The fact that we came so close, and I let some of these opportunities to gain points for our team slide, it does hurt more than some of the past losses.”