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ViewsPhil MickelsonFrom Golf Rewind Wiki
Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970) is an American professional golfer. His nickname is "Lefty" because he plays golf left-handed, even though he is right-handed. He is one of the leading players of his generation, having won three major championships and a total of 30 events on the PGA Tour. He has managed to rank as high as #2 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
[edit] Career summaryMickelson was born in San Diego, California and raised in Arizona and San Diego. Mickelson swings a golf club left-handed, but writes right-handed. He had many childhood problems dealing with his behavior. He used drugs such as marijuana and alcohol. He attended a rehabilitation center in San Diego and from there his golf career soared. He graduated from the University of San Diego High School in 1988, then attended Arizona State University on a golf scholarship, from which he graduated in 1992. During his time at ASU, Phil became the face of amateur golf in the United States, capturing three NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships individual championships and three Haskins Awards (1990, 1991, 1992) as the most outstanding collegiate golfer. In addition, in 1990, he became the first left-hander to win the U.S. Amateur title. Perhaps his greatest achievement, though, came in 1991 when he won his first PGA Tour tournament, the Northern Telecom Open. He did so as an amateur, becoming the first to achieve such a feat since Scott Verplank at the 1985 Western Open in Chicago, Illinois. Mickelson continued to win many PGA Tour tournaments, including the Byron Nelson Championship and the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 1996, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1998, the Colonial in 2000 and the Greater Hartford Open in 2001 and again in 2002. Mickelson also shot a round of 59 at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Poipu Bay Golf Course on November 24, 2004. Mickelson was known for his powerful full swing but even more so for his superlative short game, most of all his daring "Phil flop" shot in which a big swing with a high-lofted wedge against a tight lie flies a ball high into the air for a short distance. Despite these accomplishments, for many years Mickelson was often described as the "best golfer never to win a major." Mickelson often played well in majors: in the five-year span between 1999 and 2003 he had six second-place or third-place finishes. But victory always eluded him, for reasons that were ascribed to taking too many risky shots, missing too many short putts, or a general lack of what it takes to close out a big tournament. Undaunted, Mickelson continued to refine his game and his course strategy and psychology. His first major championship win came at the 2004 Masters, where he won with a 20-foot final hole birdie putt, defeating Ernie Els in a Sunday back-nine duel in which the stars traded birdies and eagles back and forth. In addition to getting the "majors monkey" off his back, this made him only the third golfer with a left-handed swing to win a major, the others being New Zealander Sir Bob Charles who won the The Open Championship in 1963 and Canadian Mike Weir who won The Masters in 2003. (Like Mickelson, Weir is a right-hander who plays left-handed.) Just prior to the 2004 Ryder Cup, Mickelson was dropped from his long standing contract with Titleist/Acushnet Golf when he took heat for a voicemail message he left for a Callaway Golf executive. In it, he praised their driver and golf ball and thanked them for their help in getting some equipment for his brother. This memo was played to all of their salesmen and eventually found its way back to Titleist. He was then let out of his multi-year deal with Titleist 16 months early and signed on with Callaway Golf, his equipment sponsor to this day. He endured a great deal of ridicule and scrutiny from the press and fellow Ryder Cup members for his equipment change so close to the crucial Ryder Cup matches. He faltered horribly at the 2004 Ryder Cup going 1-3-0, but refused to blame the sudden change in equipment or his practice methods on his performance. (Mickelson, Callaway Sign Endorsement Deal article) The following year, in a Monday final round, Mickelson captured his second career major championship with his victory at the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol. On the 18th hole, Mickelson hit one of his trademark soft pitches from deep greenside rough to within a foot and a half of the cup, and then made his birdie to finish at a 4-under-par total of 276, one shot ahead of Steve Elkington and Thomas Bjørn. Mickelson captured his third major championship the following spring by winning the 2006 Masters. He won his second Green Jacket after shooting a 3 under par final round, winning by 2 strokes over his nearest rival Tim Clark. This win propelled him to 2nd place in the Official World Golf Rankings (his career best), behind Tiger Woods and ahead of Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen. At the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Phil finished second to Geoff Ogilvy after one of the most memorable final hole collapses in major championship golf. Leading by a stroke with one hole to play, Phil chose to hit driver on the final (72nd) hole of the tournament, and hit it well left of the fairway. This decision was widely criticized since Mickelson had only hit two of thirteen fairways previously in the round. The ball bounced off a corporate hospitality tent and settled in an area of trampled down grass that was enclosed with trees. Phil decided to aggresively go for the green with his second shot rather than play it safe and pitch out into the fairway. His ball then hit a tree, with the following shot plugging into the greenside bunker. Phil was unable to get up and down from there, resulting in double bogey and costing him any chance of winning the championship outright or getting into a playoff (a bogey would've gotten him a playoff with Ogilvy), and also ending his bid to join Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only players to win three consecutive professional majors (he had two heading into Winged Foot). Reflecting on his performance afterwards Phil admitted: "I still am in shock that I did that. I just can't believe I did that. I'm such an idiot". (Open will be remembered for Mickelson's collapse article) Demonstrating grace after even the toughest defeats, showing appreciation to legions of his fans and always honoring the traditions and history of the game has made Phil one of the most popular players ever to play on the Tour. During the third round of the 2006 Ford Championship at Doral, Mickelson gave $200 to a spectator after his tee shot went wayward at the par-5 10th, and broke the man's watch. (Tips Appreciated article) His popularity among his fellow golfers is lower, however, to the point that he ranked number eight on a 2006 GQ Magazine list of the Ten Most Hated Athletes. (The Ten Most Hated Athletes article) In his book A Good Walk Spoiled, noted author John Feinstein compared Mickelson's personality to Eddie Haskell on the classic TV series Leave It to Beaver, in that he may have a kind exterior but in reality he is egotistical and rather mean. However, in his defense Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly has pointed out that "the entire family is like that...when I met his sister, (noted golf columnist) Tina Mickelson, she spoke to me like a kindergarten teacher: very polite and measured." Phil and his wife, Amy, were married on November 16, 1996. The couple has three children- Amanda, Sophia, and Evan. [edit] Amateur wins (6)
[edit] PGA Tour wins (30)
Major championships are shown in bold. [edit] Other wins (6)
[edit] Major Championships[edit] Wins (3)
[edit] Results timeline
LA = Low Amateur [edit] PGA Tour career summary
* Complete through end of 2006 season.
Being a very popular golfer as well as a successful one, Mickelson is able to earn far more from endorsements than he does in prize money. In 2004, Forbes estimated his annual income at $20 million. [edit] Team appearancesAmateur
Professional
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