Phil Mickelson
Mickelson is targeting a place at the Rio 2016 Olympics 

Phil Mickelson's second-place finish at the US PGA Championship was enough to secure the 44-year- old a record 10<sup>th successive Ryder Cup appearance, as the automatic qualifiers for Tom Watson's United States team were confirmed at Valhalla.

In the final tournament to offer qualifying points for Gleneagles in September, Mickelson, Patrick Reed and Zach Johnson secured the final three direct qualifying places for the 12-man team.

Mickelson finished one shot behind eventual champion Rory McIlroy, while Reed and Johnson finished tied-55<sup>th and tied-70<sup>th respectively, clinging onto their places. They join Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Jimmy Walker and Matt Kuchar as nine of the 12 berths were filled.

Captain Watson will announce his three wildcards on 2 September, but faces a selection dilemma with the already qualified Kuchar and 2013 US PGA champion Keegan Bradley withdrawing due to a back injury while Tiger Woods' fitness is also uncertain.

Meanwhile, after securing his best finish of the year in coming second behind McIlroy, Mickelson is already looking ahead to 2015 after enduring a nightmare season.

Mickelson missed the cut at The Masters and was out of contention at the US Open and The Open Championship and though a Ryder Cup place at Gleneagles is guaranteed, the five-time major winner is already targeting a place at the 2016 Olympic Games ahead of the start of qualifying next July.

"Next year is the year I really want to focus in on," Mickelson told Sky Sports. "It's when we start our points for the Olympics, I'd like to get on that - that would be a great goal.

"I've got to regroup after this year. I've not had the year that I've wanted to. I've got to fix a couple of things in my game and I've got three or four months to work on that."

Qualifiers for Rio 2016 are selected based on world golf rankings, with the top 15 guaranteed a place, though only four players per nation can be selected. Mickelson currently sits outside the top-four American players in the rankings.