Mickelson fails to cash in on Tiger-less major

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan (Reuters) - In the absence of injured world number one Tiger Woods, second-ranked Phil Mickelson was the tournament favorite going into this week's PGA Championship.

By the time a grueling four days of golf ended on the tough Oakland Hills Country Club layout, Mickelson had to settle for a share of seventh place, seven strokes behind winner Padraig Harrington.

"I would have liked to obviously play better but I had a good week," the American left-hander told reporters after shooting a level-par 70 in Sunday's blustery and damp final round.

"I had an enjoyable time here in Michigan and interesting weather. I didn't expect it to be cool. I thought it was going to be warm the whole time. I think we all did.

"But I had my up and downs, had a little go of it early in the round today and tried to make a move."

Mickelson, a three-times major winner who clinched the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol, reeled off three consecutive birdies from the par-five second to get within three strokes of the lead.

However, he failed to pick up any more shots over the last 14 holes on his way to a four-over aggregate of 284.

"It was a tough final round and I thought even par was a good score but it obviously was not a good enough round coming from as far back as I was," the 38-year-old Californian said.

"We have a long wait now for the next major, the Masters," he added, referring to next April at Augusta National.

"In the meantime we have a pretty exciting five-week stretch here (on the PGA Tour) with four FedExCup events and the (September 19-21) Ryder Cup."

Asked what he would be working on in his game in the final portion of the season, he replied: "I'll spend a lot of time on short game. I let a lot of shots slide around the greens this week so I'll spend time trying to get that dialed in."

Four-times champion Woods was sidelined for the rest of the year from mid-June after having reconstructive knee surgery.

(Editing by John O'Brien)