Phil Mickelson plans to play in 2018 Ryder Cup in France

Phil Mickelson plans on being in France for the 2018 Ryder Cup — as a player, not as an assistant captain.

The 46-year-old went 2-1-1 at Hazeltine in the role of de facto playing vice-captain, including making 10 birdies to halve his Sunday singles match against Sergio Garcia. He was credited, along with Tiger Woods and captain Davis Love III, with coming up with the game plan that helped the U.S. end a three-match losing skid against the European side, headed by Darren Clarke.

Mickelson has been a mainstay on American teams — Ryder and Presidents Cups — since 1995, not missing one and not needing a wild-card pick to make any of them. The five-time major winner figures there’s nothing that should stop him from making the next two U.S. teams, both at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey next September and in Paris for the 2018 Ryder Cup.

“It’s been 22 years since there have been 10 Americans that have been able to beat me [out to make the team], so I don’t know why it would stop now,” Mickelson said Wednesday at Silverado Resort ahead of the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif. “I plan on being on the team in France and absolutely one of my goals is to play in France because I’ve never been on a winning Ryder Cup team over in Europe. I want to win a Ryder Cup over there, and I want to be part of that as a player.”

The United States hasn’t won a road-game Ryder Cup since 1993, when Tom Watson led the Americans to victory. That reason, in part, was why Watson was brought back by then PGA of America president Ted Bishop for the 2014 matches at Gleneagles in Scotland. The result? A five-point loss, Mickelson speaking out against Watson’s style, the formation of the Ryder Cup Task Force, which begat the Ryder Cup Committee, and Mickelson taking the reins to lead the U.S. charge.

Mickelson is clearly pleased with the results of that coup, and he’s hoping to be an intimate part of the next step.

“This has been something that’s meant a lot to me to have the Ryder Cup team play well but also have some direction and continuity from year to year,” he said. “And to see that we had such early success was exciting. I didn’t know how the first year was going to go, but Davis did such a great job in bringing everybody together. He was such a solid glue to all the people involved that it was fun to have such early success.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.