Photo courtesy of Montana Pritchard/PGA of America
It is hard to believe 50-year-old Phil Mickelson could do much more to add to his Hall-of-Fame resume but Sunday he did just that, shocking the golf world in winning The PGA on The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.
The 50-year-old Mickelson became the oldest golfer to win a major by almost two years. It was the 6th major overall for Mickelson, moving him to a tie for 12th all time.
And he did it by out-dueling Brooks Koepka throughout the round on the way to a 1-over 73 to finish the tournament at 6-under, two clear of Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.
It was an emotional final round on the tough course that repeatedly ended the dreams of would be contenders.
“It’s been an incredible day, and I’ve not let myself kind of think about the results until now, now that it’s over,” said Mickelson. “I’ve tried to stay more in the present and at the shot at hand and not jump ahead and race. I’ve tried to shut my mind to a lot of stuff going around. I wasn’t watching TV. I wasn’t getting on my phone. I was just trying to quiet things down because I’ll get my thoughts racing and I really just tried to stay calm.”
The nature of The Ocean Course was such that until Mickelson’s 9-iron from the rough on the left side of the hole landed on the green that any of thousands of the Mickelson fans could breathe.
The emotion of the moment overcame the large crowd as after Mickelson’s shot hit the green, they surged towards the green from the fairway, actually swallowing up Mickelson and Koepka, both of whom need police escorts to get through the masses and on to the green.
“It’s an incredible experience,” said Mickelson of chaos of the crowd surge. “I’ve never had something like that. It was a little bit unnerving, but it was exceptionally awesome, too. So that was kind of a special moment that I’ll be appreciative of the way that people here have supported me and the entire tournament.”
Koepka, who had a knee procedure earlier this year certainly wasn’t thrilled with the crowd, given he still is recovering from the surgery. He did however appreciate the emotion.
“Yeah it would have been cool if I didn’t have a knee injury and got dinged a few times in the knee in that crowd because no one really gave a s—, personally,” said Koepka. “But if I was fine, yeah, it would have been cool. Yeah, it’s cool for Phil. But getting dinged a few times isn’t exactly my idea of fun.”
The day started shaky for both Mickelson and Koepka. Mickelson was even par through six holes, but that featured two bogeys and two birdies.
It was at that point his caddie – younger brother Tim Mickelson had a talk with his player. It’s been a and up and down journey for the two but Sunday showed the bond between the brothers.
““I’ll tell you a perfect example, and this is an intangible that makes him relatable or understand me, get the best out of me and makes him a great caddie,” Phil said of his brother. “I’m walking off 6, I had made some uncommitted swings the first six holes. I had been striking the ball awesome the first three days. I had a wonderful warm up session, like I was ready to go and I made some uncommitted swings the first six holes. He pulled me aside and said, “If you’re going to win this thing, you’re going to have to make committed golf swings.”
Tim added: “I just told him to stop thinking so much. When he would get ahead of himself, I reminded him, hey, we’ll worry about that when we get there. A few stories here and there. Maybe one or two might have been made up, who knows, but anything I can to keep his mind off of the shot that’s coming up when it’s not even our turn to hit.”
The win also gave Mickelson a spot in the U.S. Open that takes place next month at Torrey Pines is San Diego, Mickelson’s hometown.
He had accepted a USGA exemption last week but had been vocal about earning his way into the field.
And now he has.
By Dennis Miller