PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Phil Mickelson is still not exempt for the U.S. Open and says he won’t accept a special invitation.

The U.S. Open is the one major keeping Mickelson from the career Grand Slam and no other major has given him more grief. His six runner-up finishes, most recently at Merion in 2013, is a U.S. Open record.

The U.S. Open occasionally awards a special exemption to the game’s best players when they are not eligible. Ernie Els has received such an exemption each of the last two years. Jack Nicklaus received eight of them.

“I won’t accept it,î Mickelson said at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he won last year for his 44th career PGA Tour victory. “So I am either going to get in the field on my own or I’ll have to try to qualify. I’m not going to take a special exemption.”