"You always thought of Phil Mickelson as a guy who had a great short game. He does have a great short game, but he also has a great variety of shots with every club. Plus, he is an unbelievable competitor.
"He wants to be the best he can be and he wants to beat Tiger Woods. I'm not sure a lot of guys out there feel that way."
In fact, it is probably just as well that Woods is not posing a challenge this week, because Mickelson will have enough on his plate meeting the demands of a typical Open links course.
The 38-year-old Californian has won two Masters titles and a US PGA Championship, in addition to being runner-up in the US Open four times.
But in the Open, apart from a third place showing at Troon in 2004, he has come nowhere.
Mickelson, second only to Woods in the rankings, admitted: "2004 was the first time I felt comfortable and confident playing golf over here.
"I had been working on taking some spin off of my short irons and it was that process that allowed me to control my trajectory, control my spin rate for the conditions here.
"If the wind blows as strong as it has been, the short game is going to be critical here."
And as Harmon pointed out, he has a great short game.
