CROMWELL, Conn. – Sure, there are still 36 holes to play.

Of course, there are star-studded leaderboards to overcome in the next two days.

Naturally, he only won two tournaments in the last seven years.

And of course, he is 50 years old.

But the Traveler Championship is Phil Mickelson who will win.

Mickelson, who is 50 years old on Tuesday, led one shot into Saturday’s third round at TPC River Highlands after firing 7-under 63 on Friday to reach 13-under par.

Right behind Mickelson are 23-year-old Will Gordon, who played in his eighth career PGA Tour and posted an 8-under 62 on Friday, and Mackenzie Hughes, who followed 10-under 60 in the first round with a simpler 68 on Friday. Both are 12-under.

Rory McIlroy – who was grouped with Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau for the first two rounds – Xander Schauffele, Marc Leishman, Brendan Steele, Brendan Steele, Brendan Todd and Brian Stuard were all 9-under. Ten players four shots back at 8-under – including DeChambeau, Zach Johnson, 2014 Travelers winner Kevin Streelman and Viktor Hovland.

But that day – and the tournament through 36 holes – belonged to Mickelson, who tried to achieve something very rare and special: win the PGA Tour event after reaching the age of 50.

Since 2003, only three players have achieved achievements – most recently Davis Love III, who won the 2015 Wyndham Championship at age 51, Fred Funk at the 2007 Mayakoba Classic and Craig Stadler in 2003 BC. Open.

“It is special to win at any time, regardless of age,” Mickelson said after his round. “But it will be a big achievement. It was a pleasant day. I have a great session with [swing coach] Andrew Getson earlier this week, and we put in something that just calmed me down and felt like I could hit him a little better.

“It’s only two rounds, but it’s very positive.”

“It’s refreshing for him to play like this and see some putts in,” Getson told The Post.

Hit the fairway too. As the golf world knows, that’s usually not a strong point for Mickelson. But he failed only three fairways on Friday and hit 14 of the 18 green in regulation.

Mickelson became hot on nine backs with three birdies in a row – the first came at par-13, where he left the 19-foot eagle putt almost seven feet short but made a birdie putt.

That pushed him to the next hole, when Mickelson channeled his drive farther to the fairway than McIlroy or DeChambeau and buried 32 feet for birdies. His birdie at 15 ties him to lead and birdie at 18, where he puts his approach shot into three legs, giving it directly to him.

Mickelson called a six-foot putt for birdies on 13 keys for his spin.

“That was a big putt for me because I crashed into a perfect 3-wood on a difficult tee shot for me – I had the right water, beyond the left limit, and it was a gentle breeze,” he said. “Then I hit a pretty little iron that runs 4 right on the green edge where I want it to be, but I hit a bad first putt.

“When you play the hole like you want and you come out of par-5 with par, it’s very disappointing. But I made six legs a difficult blow and only my momentum kept going. Sometimes a small thing like that can really make a lap run or take. For me it is a very big putt. “

Another thing done by Mickelson in the last two days: don’t try to catch a huge distance from the most populous DeChambeau and McIlroy tees, the two longest hitters in the game. Mickelson, by his own admission, has fallen in love for a long time during his career.

“I tried in LA to match it with Brooks [Koepka] and Bubba [Watson] – those people are long, “Mickelson remembered the Genesis Open in February.” I tried to swing it hard, and in the end I failed. I learned from it. I said, “Okay, I’m going to play this golf [TPC River Highlands] in a certain way. ’’

Through two days, he played it better than anyone.