Phil Mickelson's US Open campaign came to a premature end, with time running out for the American star to complete the career Grand Slam.

The 54-year-old's exit from the prestigious tournament was sealed when he missed a crucial putt in the rain. Mickelson, who turns 55 on Monday, faces the reality of the US Open being the only major to elude him, and he will now look to future qualifying opportunities or a discretionary invitation from USGA officials for another shot at the title.

Despite the possibility that this may have been his final appearance at the major, Mickelson took the time to kindly distribute gifts to the security staff who had accompanied him on the course.

As he prepared to leave the course, he engaged in conversation with fellow star Ben Griffin about sunglasses. Griffin recounted: "He was wearing a different pair of sunglasses, but was getting ready to put on the same models that I wear, the Uswing Mojing sunglasses.

"He started wearing them four or five years ago. I think his first week might have been when he won the PGA Championship. The sunglasses are designed for golf and he pointed them out and I was like: 'Yeah, where are yours at?'.

"He was getting ready to put his on. He was wearing some flashy Raybans or whatever to warm up in. But, yeah, Phil is a great guy, it was good to talk to him."

Griffin reflected on the possibility of this being Mickelson's last shot at glory, saying: "Yeah, unfortunately my memories of him are not winning because I know he needs it for the Grand Slam. Growing up, I enjoyed watching him and Tiger [Woods] go head-to-head, along with other big names.

"Phil is a guy that I definitely watched throughout my junior golf and throughout childhood and was a good guy to kind of follow and be inspired by.

"I think Tiger kind of stole the show for most of my childhood, just the way he was so dominant and winning majors. It was pretty inspiring.

"I think that's why the talent level is so good nowadays, especially with kids coming out because we're kind of the first generation of guys that grew up watching Tiger and he made golf really cool and there's why there's such a huge influx of new golfers and the talent pool is growing.

"Whereas when Tiger first came on Tour, there was a lot of golfers still and a lot of high-quality golfers, but I think nowadays the pool of people that play competitive golf is just way higher.

"Because of that, it's way more difficult, and you're not seeing too many dominant players, except for maybe Scottie Scheffler."