I’ve always had a soft spot for Phil Mickelson. He’s a big, jolly man who loves his family, runs his own charity, and is a genuinely great human being. Oh yea, and he’s a lefty, like me. Star left-handed athletes are hard to come by. Names like Sandy Koufax, John McEnroe, Larry Bird, Phil Esposito and Steve Young come to mind when you think of the greatest lefties in sports. With Sunday’s win at the Open Championship, Phil Mickelson has certainly joined that list of all-time great lefties, and he might even be atop it. He’s cemented himself as one of the greatest golfers to ever live, winning his fifth major adding to his whopping 24 top-5 finishes at major championships. The Open Championship had escaped him for the entirety of his 21-year professional career until Sunday. All that remains now is a U.S. Open victory, a tournament in which he has placed second a total of 6 times. That’s more runner-up finishes than anyone else at any major.
Sunday’s win at Muirfield may go down as one of the most inspired wins in the history of golf. He stepped up to the 13th tee, with six of the hardest holes on the course ahead of him, +1 on the tournament. Through the first three days, he was a total of +4 on those last 6 holes, but that all changed on Sunday. A spectacular birdie putt on the thirteenth started a chain reaction of momentum and confidence that carried Mickelson the rest of the way. He went on and birdied 14 (the course’s second hardest hole), parred 15 and 16, and birdied the par-5 17th with two of the best 3-wood shot he’s ever made (he said so himself). On 18, He sank a twisting 6-footer for birdie, and threw his hands in the air like a guy who knew he had just won. He was right. His 5-under 66 on the day was enough for him to make up the 5-stroke deficit he faced entering the day, and win the tournament by an astounding 3 strokes. He was also the only player who finished the tournament under par.
Mickelson is 43 years old now and is playing some of the best golf of his career. Having earned over 71 million dollars in prize money, not to mention the millions more in sponsorship dollars, Mickelson isn’t in it for the money. He plays because he is a competitor, and a top one at that. He doesn’t compete with the same fire and intensity that Tiger Woods does, but instead competes for the love of the game, and to prove to himself what he can still do. His 42 career PGA tour wins rank him 9th all-time in that category, and among active golfers he trails only Tiger Woods. He is behind Walter Hagen by only 3 PGA tour wins, and could claim 6th place behind Arnold Palmer with just 11 more wins.
Despite a storied career that puts him among the greatest golfers to ever play, Phil Mickelson’s career is full of “what-ifs.” The biggest question, in my mind, is this: what would Mickelson’s career look like without Tiger Woods? Throughout his career, Tiger Woods has been the most talked about, and best, golfer in the world. However, throughout that same time span, Phil Mickelson has been unequivocally the second-best player in the world. So what if Tiger hadn’t played? Would we be talking about Phil as the best of the best? I’m almost certain we would. How often do we see one of the top-ten greatest athletes in his sport essentially fly under the radar?
What makes Mickelson so easy to root for, so lovable, is that exact ability to go unnoticed. He’s been overshadowed for his entire career by Tiger, yet he doesn’t scrap for the spotlight. That quality is so admirable because most people would want some recognition for being one of the greatest golfers in the history of the game. Wouldn’t you? Phil’s answer would be “no.” He competes for his own sake, not for the fame, the money, or the attention. He quietly sits back while the cameras follow Woods, and climbs the ladder of all-time great golfers. His win on Sunday was just another rung on the ladder, and a great day for lefties everywhere.
Here’s Lefty winning the Open Championship.
Conrad's Corner Sports 