The giant silver cup is one of the heaviest prizes in sport and Mickelson struggled to raise it beyond shoulder height. Such scenes were as unimaginable in the dark days of spectator-free sport as it was to envisage a player who had slumped to 115 in the world ever again lifting one of golf's big four prizes.īut, in truth, it was only when he gingerly lifted the Wanamaker Trophy that Mickelson truly seemed his advanced age. Koepka was swallowed up by the crowds, angry and discomfited as his fragile knee was banged as he too was swamped on the closing hole. Thousands of fans defied the US PGA Championship's Covid-19 protocols external-link and thronged around the closing green, with the champion the absolute focal point. The first one I made was the drive on seven."Īn old head on an old body suddenly played with the verve of youth and to a level beyond his main and younger rivals, Brooks Koepka (31) and Louis Oosthuizen (38).Īnd by the end Mickelson was the central figure in what felt like a lockdown coming-out party. "It hit me in the head, I can't make passive, I can't control the outcome, I have to swing committed. "He pulled me aside and said, 'If you're going to win this thing, you're going to have to make committed golf swings'," Mickelson said. "I made some uncommitted swings the first six holes," the player admitted before crediting his closest confidant for making a crucial contribution. Phil was still in front and had gained momentum by pitching in from the sand for birdie at the par-three fifth, but something was not right. Heading to the seventh tee, the brothers were fearing the worst. There was a point when Tim Mickelson wondered whether if his sibling might be about to fade from contention, despite holding a one-shot lead after 54 holes and enjoying a perfect warm-up to the final round. Indeed, it took a largely unseen intervention from the champion's caddie to keep his title quest on track.
The importance of a strong caddie was in evidence again this week as Tim helped Phil to a historic major win "I didn't see why I couldn't, but I wasn't executing the way I believed I could."Īnd that belief was tested to the limit during the tumultuous and dramatic final round that unfolded in an unforgettable 103rd PGA Championship.
"I believed for a long time that I could play at this level again," Mickelson insisted after Sunday's victory. He succeeds Collin Morikawa, 27 years younger and one the sport's most exciting young talents, as PGA champion. Regardless of whether he succeeds, Mickelson has emphatically demonstrated golf's unique capacity to reward players of all ages. Victory in the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island on Sunday made him golf's oldest major winner.Īnd now the 50-year-old is dreaming and perhaps believing he can become just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam at next month's US Open in his home town of San Diego. But within a couple of weeks Mickelson was proven correct in spectacular and historic fashion by claiming his sixth major title in the month prior to his 51st birthday.
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