#Phil Mickelson’s US Open dream may have just died for last time

Again.

For the 28th time in his career, Phil Mickelson, 50, will depart from a U.S. Open without the trophy he’s coveted most in his otherwise decorated career that has produced 44 victories, including five major championships.

In the case of this, the 120th U.S. Open at Winged Foot, he’s going to depart two days earlier than planned, because after Thursday’s opening-round nightmarish 9-over 79, Mickelson, 14 strokes behind first-round leader Justin Thomas, has approximately zero percent chance to make the cut.

This comes as little surprise considering that, some three hours before his 1:16 p.m. tee time Thursday, Mickelson was grinding on the practice range trying out several different drivers.

There’s an old adage in professional golf that says no players who come to major championships trying to find their game end up doing so. Needless to say, Mickelson did not find it in the dirt before his round Thursday.

The 79 was Mickelson’s highest score in a U.S. Open since he shot 81 in the second round in 1992 at Pebble Beach in his professional debut.

At age 50, it’s not out of the question to wonder whether Mickelson will ever qualify for a U.S. Open again. Before COVID-19 compromised the PGA Tour schedule, Mickelson was hovering close to the wrong side of the qualification requirement (top 60 in the world rankings).

It would be cruelly fitting if his last U.S. Open appearance was at the place of his greatest heartbreak (See: 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot).

“I don’t know what to say,’’ Mickelson said after his round. “It’s a disappointing day. I drove it poorly and I putted poorly. The course couldn’t be set up any better. It’s a spectacular golf course — great design, awesome setup — and I thought it was a good opportunity to score low today. I just played terrible.’’

Mickelson told The Post on Monday that, if he had any chance to win the U.S. Open this week, “I’ll have to have one of the greatest driving weeks of my career.’’

Instead, he had one of the worst driving rounds of his career, hitting only two of 14 fairways.

Making Thursday even more painful to watch for Mickelson supporters was the memory of the last U.S. Open that took place at Winged Foot, in 2006, and his unforgettable role in it. Mickelson famously lost a one-shot lead on the 72nd hole with double bogey thanks to a wildly errant drive that bounced off a hospitality tent and second shot that was even worse than the first.

That was the most excruciating of Mickelson’s record six U.S. Open runner-up finishes in his career because he had one hand on the silver chalice and threw it away and he knew it.

In the weeks leading up to this Open, Mickelson poked fun at himself, first in a Callaway commercial, in which he said, “When have I ever let you down at Winged Foot?”

Later, when he saw someone bet on him to win the U.S. Open at 75-1, he posted: “Heard someone placed 45k on me to win the open at 75-1 (pays 3.3 mil). Hoping for both of us I have a 3 shot lead on 18 tee.”

There was nothing funny about Thursday.

Mickelson began his day by spraying his opening tee shot into the deep left rough among the trees on the first hole. Yet he powered an iron approach shot over the trees, onto the green and made the putt for a Mickelson-esque birdie.

On No. 2, he again lost his tee shot left, into even deeper rough, and again managed to land his iron approach shot onto the green and make the putt for yet another improbable birdie.

Two holes in, Mickelson was off the reservation off the tee and 2-under par nonetheless.

No one can sustain that kind of volatile play in U.S. Open conditions and survive, not even Mickelson and his legendary Houdini acts of scrambling.

Eventually it caught up to him. It had to.

He went a shocking 11-over par on his final 16 holes and it looked like a slow bleed-out for everyone to watch.

Mickelson, always one of the eternal optimists in the game, finally cracked on the ninth hole after he sent an approach shot wildly errant left, his ball landing on the first tee — ironically after he’d actually hit his tee shot onto the fairway.

“I am so sick of this,” Mickelson was overheard to say by an NBC-TV boom microphone.

It got worse from there, with Mickelson closing with a shocking 42 on the back nine with five bogeys and a double.

Of the 144 players in the field only one — amateur Lukas Michel (80) — finished with a worse score than Mickelson, who enters Friday’s second round tied for 142nd.

What next?

“I’m 9-over,’’ Mickelson said. “I’ll play as hard as I can [Friday] and enjoy the round.’’

If that’s possible.