By Alan Shipnuck
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Running, sweating, screaming, scuffling, tweeting, the fans that swarmed the 18th hole of the Ocean Course on Sunday evening were not merely cheering for a golfer. They had been swept up in a communal experience that was bigger and grander than that. Phil Mickelson didn’t just win the PGA Championship a month shy of his 51st birthday, he exploded our notion of what is possible. How can golf’s most wayward champion survive a booby-trapped course that severely punished impudence? Five years removed from the last time he even contended at a major, how could Phil reinvent himself yet again? Golf genius can be perishable; Mickelson’s idol, Seve Ballesteros, is proof of that. Yet here was Phil, still bailing himself out with wizardly wedge shots on one of golf’s toughest tests while his contemporaries are riding carts and battling the yips on the senior tour. It defied belief.

Finally, Mickelson fought his way through the crowd (with the help of a phalanx of cops) and reached the final green to tidy up a two-shot victory. (“It was a little bit unnerving but it was exceptionally awesome, too,” he said of the crush of humanity.) The crowd erupted at the sight of him but it wasn’t awe or reverence that fueled the cheers. It was an unfettered joy. Mickelson has always had a deep connection with the golf public, who appreciate the dignity he displayed despite slapstick losses and his class through 44 victories … and counting. They cried along with him when he won the 2010 Masters for his cancer-stricken bride and they now laugh at his deadpan, self-deprecating social-media posts. They forgive his trespasses (meaty gambling debts and questionable stock transactions; talking smack about Tiger Woods’s equipment; attempting hero shots on the 72nd hole at Winged Foot) because even Mickelson’s failings feed his image as an uninhibited thrill-seeker. Love him or hate him, Mickelson inspires emotion. In the Sunday twilight, Paul Casey stood on a hill behind the 18th green. He had finished his round nearly an hour earlier but stuck around to take in the scene. “This is cool shit,” he said.

Jon Rahm, in a T-shirt emblazoned with DAD BOD, wormed his way to the edge of the green to get a better view of history. “If I know one thing about Phil,” Rahm said, “he wants to make the putt.” It wouldn’t make a difference in the outcome but Mickelson is a consummate showman. He missed the putt but secured the trophy, a dizzying turn of events even he struggled to put into words.

His date with destiny had begun at 2:30 p.m., under a blazing sun. Brooks Koepka, one shot back of Mickelson and playing alongside him, rolled up to the tee with his familiar cocksure swagger, like a heavyweight prizefighter confident he is going to land a few haymakers. A win would end two years of injury-related frustrations and give Koepka a whopping five major championships, tying him with a trio of all-time geniuses: Seve, (Lord) Byron Nelson and the living legend with whom he was paired. Koepka has strained to brand himself an anti-hero and now he had a chance to ruin another Hollywood storyline, having already done so at the 2018 PGA Championship when he thwarted Tiger’s bid with a cold-blooded closing 66. He was clearly spoiling for a fight.

Mickelson exuded a different energy. Jaw already clenched tight, hiding behind aviators as if they were the tinted windows of a limousine, his burden was palpable. The swollen crowd was already in a frenzy, desperate to witness the crowning achievement of a career of unsurpassed longevity. Mickelson is convinced he will be a force in the game more or less forever—“He thinks he can outsmart Father Time,” his friend and college teammate Rob Mangini said recently—but how many such golden opportunities could he realistically expect? His last good chance to win a major was way back in 2016, when he lost a duel in the gloaming to Henrik Stenson at Royal Troon. Since then Mickelson has remade his body and his swing in an effort to remain relevant, finding a fountain of youth in a New Age coffee elixir of his own devising (and perhaps bottles of hair dye.) His obsessive quest for more distance off the tee felt like folly, or madness, until this week when he came to the brawniest major championship venue in history and bashed his way to the 54-hole lead. “He’s hitting it so long and straight it’s incredible,” said his third-round playing partner Louis Oosthuizen.

Jamie Squire

On Saturday, Mickelson was on the verge of a runaway until the tenor of the tournament flipped on one swing when he sniped a drive into the water on the 13th hole, leading to a buzzkill double bogey. That stirred the angst living inside every Mickelson fan, who have long been traumatised by the big miss. More wild shots ensued but Phil the Thrill showed a ton of heart getting in the house without further damage. Still, the existential dread lingered.

On the first tee on Sunday, Koepka smashed one down the middle, taking the most aggressive of lines; over the first three rounds his ball-striking was so reliable it was boring to watch. As Mickelson stood over the ball you could almost hear the clack-clack-clack of a rollercoaster car inching toward a summit. Phil lashed his drive into the deep left rough and then came up miles short with his approach, leading to a three-putt bogey. Brooks, with typical ruthlessness, brushed in a birdie and just like that had snatched the lead. The ride had begun.

For Mickelson, it’s been three decades in the making. When he showed up at Arizona State he was so confident he was destined to be a tour pro he already dressed like one; on a campus where students favoured shorts and flip-flops, Mickelson wore Sansabelt slacks, hard-collared shirts and belts with oversized buckles. (Since he was heading straight to the course after class he figured why waste time having to change?) His teammates were so aghast that late in Mickelson’s freshman year a group of them broke into his dorm room, gathered up the offending garments and set them ablaze in a fire pit. He has undergone constant metamorphosis ever since: Can’t-miss kid; mega-talent who can’t win the big one; Tiger tragic; lovable loser; Phil in full; beloved elder statesman. When a 42-year-old Mickelson roared to victory at the 2013 Open Championship, on the strength of what he has called perhaps the finest round of his career, it felt like a victory lap. Phil made strong runs at the 2014 PGA, ‘15 Masters and ’16 Open Championship but didn’t have quite enough firepower to win any of them. That set off what felt like a mid-life crisis, with Mickelson taking to social media to crow about his (admittedly impressive) calves and film increasingly goofy TV commercials. He couldn’t let go of the spotlight, even as the victories stopped coming.

But beneath all the salesmanship and showmanship Mickelson is a grinder and a golf obsessive. As his contemporaries grew fat and happy—or in the case of Woods, had their bodies break down—Phil kept doing the work, largely out of sight, whether in his backyard practice facility, the Callaway test center or in money games around Southern California and the Arizona desert. “What people don’t fully appreciate about Phil is how much he loves golf,” says Brendan Steele, who plays often with Mickelson on off weeks. “He gets so much joy from playing the game and he’s on a never-ending quest to get better. He never stops. The passion is always there. Yes, he has great hands and all of that, but I think his love for the game is the biggest reason why he’s been one of the best players in the world for 30 straight years.”

And yet the downside of experience is all the scar tissue, as Mickelson’s playing partner over the first town rounds, Padraig Harrington, noted poignantly. After Mickelson’s first hole debacle on Sunday he steadied himself with a birdie on the par-5 second, thanks to an adroit up-and-down. But he bogeyed number 3, a short par-4, after missing the green from 30 yards out. You could feel the tension, in the gallery at the Ocean Course and across Golf Twitter. On the tough par-3 5th hole Mickelson lost his tee shot into a bunker on the short-side and it felt like the tournament was already slipping away. But he summoned some vintage magic, holing out for a game-changing birdie. It instantly joined the pantheon of Mickelsonian highlights, alongside the walk-off putt at the 2004 Masters that released so much catharsis; the tapping of the Nicklaus plaque on the 72nd hole at Baltusrol and then the exquisite chip that clinched the win at the ’05 PGA; the eagle-eagle-birdie burst to take another green jacket, in ’06; the fearless 6-iron out of the trees in Amen Corner at the ‘10 Masters; and the curling birdie putt to clinch the Open two years later.

Of course, Phil is Phil so it was never going to be easy. He bogeyed the 6th hole out of the rough. But Koepka had little control of his golf ball, easing the pressure on Mickelson, who got up-and-down on the par-5 7th hole to push his lead to two strokes. Across the front nine Mickelson hit only two fairways, suffered a three-putt, made three bogeys . . . and had somehow doubled his lead. When he flagged his approach on the 10th hole and Koepka made another soft bogey the margin was a commanding four strokes. The only question now was whether or not Phil could avoid self-immolation, a la Winged Foot (and sundry others). When he split the fairway on the 12th hole Mickelson gave a little fist pump on the tee box, a nod to how important every drive had become. But he began playing prevent defense a little too early, leading to bogeys on the next two holes. On a day when every other would-be contender retreated, Louis Oosthuizen finally showed some life with a birdie on the par-5 16th hole, cutting Mickelson’s lead to a tenuous two strokes. But Phil responded with two fearless swings, leaving himself just over the 16th green in two, and then followed with a quintessentially good chip. The kick-in birdie put him in a commanding position and Mickelson was carried home on the closing holes by the delirious fans, who chanted over and over “Phil! Phil! Phil!” The galleries love him because he lets them in. His colleagues may be annoyed by the marathon autograph sessions and the innumerable aw-shucks smiles and the endless thumbs-up gestures but it’s part of Mickelson’s gift for connecting. “People like to call him a phony,” says Tour veteran Kirk Triplett, “but I never understood that critique. Because he looks the fans in the eye and because he’s nice to the volunteers? Because he tips every clubhouse attendant $100? If the worst thing other players can say about you is that you’re trying too hard to be nice, you must be doing something right.”

A little jealousy is inevitable when you’re ninth all-time in victories on the PGA Tour. Mickelson had been stoic all week about what a victory would mean, part of a renewed emphasis on mental discipline, but in accepting the trophy he finally let a little emotion flow: “This is just an incredible feeling because I believed it was possible yet everything was saying it wasn’t. I hope that others find that inspiration. It might take a little extra work, a little harder effort, but it’s so worth it in the end.”

This sixth major championship victory ties him with his diametric opposite, the fastidious Nick Faldo, and Lee Trevino, one of the three or four greatest ball-strikers who has ever lived. If Mickelson can somehow steal another one—and at this point, how can you possibly bet against him?—he would join the immortals with seven majors: Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Harry Vardon.

One measure of the greatness of a career is the span between a first and last major championship victory. Nicklaus, of course, leads the way at 24 years. Since the birth of the Masters, only Tiger Woods (22) Gary Player (19) and Ernie Els (18) can say they were better longer than Mickelson.

Of course, Phil’s prime overlapped with Tiger’s. Mickelson honks can lament how much more he would have won without Woods around but it was Tiger’s incomparable excellence that forced Lefty to dig deep and realize his own awesome potential. They were never true rivals because Tiger was clearly better. But while Woods’s life was sidetracked by scandal, addiction and carelessness, Mickelson sailed on—healthy, happily married and still beloved in the marketplace. What used to be said about his idol Arnold Palmer applies to Phil, too: no one could have more fun being Phil Mickelson than Phil Mickelson has. Woods’s dominance is unrivalled but you have to wonder if he would trade lives with the man he regularly bested.

On Sunday evening, when it was all over, Mickelson marched triumphantly across the grounds of the Ocean Course, serenaded by the fans. It now takes two hands to count his majors, but in victory he offered only one digit: a thumb raised triumphantly to the sky.

Sam Greenwood

The post Phil Mickelson’s most incredible win came by staying true to himself appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
Less than an hour after Phil Mickelson made it official and became the oldest golfer ever to win a major with his triumph at the 103rd PGA Championship, the contemporary who would be most widely considered his nemesis during his professional career took a moment to give Lefty his due.

Truly inspirational to see @PhilMickelson do it again at 50 years of age. Congrats!!!!!!!

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 23, 2021

Woods was just one of several pro golfers and celebrities who took time to congratulate Mickelson for his historic accomplishment. Game recognise game, and indeed Lefty’s triumph at the Ocean Course proved an inspiration beyond merely just the normal golf fans who geek out over major championships.

Here are just a handful of the hat tips that came Mickelson’s way in the hours after his triumph:

Chalk one up for the old boys ….Congratulations @PhilMickelson ? An absolute tough track…beat me by 33 shots and I only played 2 days!!?? Well done….Well done

Amazing win brother! #PGAChamp @PGAChampionship @ChampionsTour

— John Daly (@PGA_JohnDaly) May 23, 2021

?? @PhilMickelson Major respect. Age is just a number. @PGAChampionship ? pic.twitter.com/0u7cb2W0DN

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) May 24, 2021

Age is just a number, congrats @PhilMickelson ??. Amazing to see and very motivating for the future…can’t wait for 2047 ??????

— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) May 24, 2021

Unbelievable.

Congrats @PhilMickelson!#History

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) May 23, 2021

Spectacular, @PhilMickelson ! Wish I were still working and could have seen that up close and following in the fairways! Judy R

— Judy Rankin (@Jrprotalker) May 23, 2021

Amazing performance @PhilMickelson, you’re an example for everyone one out there with your passion and will to improve. Great win ???

— Francesco Molinari (@F_Molinari) May 23, 2021

Hey Phil, 50 years old is older than 46. Congratulations, my friend. pic.twitter.com/drb8PzftaB

— Jack Nicklaus (@jacknicklaus) May 24, 2021

This is incredible. I feel like a true golf fan watching this. What a cool moment for the sport

— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) May 23, 2021

Congratulations @PhilMickelson ?? Well done old man ??????

— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) May 24, 2021

One of the most incredible sights I’ve ever seen in the game of golf. God bless @PhilMickelson. Legend. My $100 bucks is worth a million now.

— Jake Owen (@jakeowen) May 23, 2021

Inspiring stuff from Phil! Fans are back…the vibe is back…golf is in a great spot right now! @PGAChampionship

— Harris English (@Harris_English) May 24, 2021

One of the most special moments I have ever seen..@PhilMickelson you are simply unbelievable. Thank you for the entertainment ???
Lost for words.@PGAChampionship @CallawayGolf

— Thomas Bjørn (@thomasbjorngolf) May 23, 2021

Congrats to @PhilMickelson on the @PGAChampionship win. Impressive stuff. A great victory for the over-49 crowd!!! ???#pgachamp #over49

— Brian Gay (@BrianGayPGA) May 24, 2021

I feel so inspired to practice ? the Phil effect !!!!! @PhilMickelson

— Marina Alex (@Marina_Deee) May 24, 2021

This really is a win for the ages – the oldest golfer to ever win a major. There is nothing like golf! Congrats @PhilMickelson #history #PGAChampionship

— Luke Donald (@LukeDonald) May 23, 2021

Phil’s a MAJOR CHAMPION again! ??#TeamCallaway couldn’t wait to congratulate Lefty on his latest triumph. ? pic.twitter.com/0huwk51Agk

— Callaway Golf (@CallawayGolf) May 24, 2021

What a display of golf from @PhilMickelson. He kept his cool and it always seemed like he would emerge victorious. I’d like to point out what an enthusiastic personality Phil is on the course & it’s why he’s a phenomenal ambassador for the game. Enjoy your special victory. GP pic.twitter.com/wapibq6rAo

— GARY PLAYER (@garyplayer) May 24, 2021

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By Christopher Powers
Phil Mickelson has always had a knack for speaking things into existence, even if it takes him a million tries. A tweet he sent 12 days ago, however, is a level of prophecy he’s yet to achieve in his almost 51 years on this earth.

Twelve days ago, you may recall, Mickelson was just a few days removed from a roller coaster of a week at the Wells Fargo Championship. He had grabbed the first-round lead with a scintillating seven-under 64 at Quail Hollow, turning back the clock and giving his legion of fans hope that he still had some good golf left in him. Then, he proceeded to free fall down the leader board, shooting rounds of 75, 76 and 76 to finish in solo 69th. After leading the tournament, Mickelson failed to finish in the top 20 for an 18th straight start.

Two days after that disappointing ending, Mickelson was feeling spiritual, so he sent a tweet that ended up being quite prophetic (and downright eerie) given what transpired on Sunday at Kiawah Island:

I’ve failed many times in my life and career and because of this I’ve learned a lot. Instead of feeling defeated countless times, I’ve used it as fuel to drive me to work harder. So today, join me in accepting our failures. Let’s use them to motivate us to work even harder.

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) May 11, 2021

Now that we’ve A. seen that hard work pay off in the form of a history-making win and B. seen just how unbelievably focused he was on the task at hand this week, this tweet is flat-out scary. Of course, if he finished T-37, it’s just another tweet. But isn’t that also the beauty of it? This was, in fact, just another tweet, one part of an arduous daily process that he hopes yields the result it did on Sunday at the PGA, but rarely does in this impossible-to-master sport. You fail way more than you succeed in golf, but the failures are all worth it when you do get it done on such a massive stage like he did. A lot of people not only gained respect for Phil the golfer this week, but for Phil the Prophet.

The post This tweet Phil Mickelson sent 12 days ago is downright eerie appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Phil Mickelson’s success at the Ocean Course was a reflection of a late-career transformation of his body and his mind

By Daniel Rapaport
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Your friends consider golf the domain of retired geezers, but at the elite level, it really is a young man’s game. At least relatively so. In your 20s, you’re fearless, completely devoid of scar tissue, and you ram that ‘sumbitch in the back of the cup. Your 30s find you in your prime, still physically pliable but also efficient with your practice, disciplined in decision-making. The great ones get a few looks in their 40s. It’s a recent thing, the product of sports getting smarter and equipment getting, well, better.

But your 50s? You want to win a major past the half-century mark? No chance.

Until Sunday. Phil Mickelson pulled off the impossible, winning the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course for his sixth major. In the process, he became the oldest player to ever win a major championship, breaking Julis Boros’ record that stood for 53 years.

So, how did he do it? How did a man who turns 51 next month keep it together for four days on a relentlessly brutal golf course? How did he keep his wits about him, his hands steady, his mind clear to clinch a legacy-defining victory? As with all things Phil Mickelson, the answer isn’t exactly a simple one.

The motivation

The first step toward advanced-age greatness is passion. Simple passion. It’s a prerequisite. Without it, none of this is possible. Coming into this week, Phil Mickelson had 44 wins on the PGA Tour, five majors, a beautiful family, a gazillion dollars in career earnings…you get the picture. He did not need this by any stretch. He could’ve easily rode off into the sunset, slowly converting into a ceremonial golfer. Eight starts a year. Play the majors, maybe Torrey, the Memorial, shoot some commercials, call it a career. For normal people, this option grows more enticing with each failure. Lefty had gone 18 straight starts without a top 20; that would crush the spirit of most every 50-year-old, and would you blame them?

But Mickelson has been adamant his work isn’t done.

“My desire to play is the same,” he said Sunday night. “I’ve never been driven by exterior things. I’ve always been intrinsically motivated because I love to compete, I love playing the game. I love having opportunities to play against the best at the highest level. That’s what drives me, and I think that that’s what is—the belief that I could still do it inspired me to work harder.

Indeed, Phil kept on working. He kept on heading straight for the range after yet another disappointing 74, bouncing ideas off swing coach Andrew Getson and insisting he wasn’t as far off as his results showed. For a while there, it bordered on quixotic. Like, why are you doing this to yourself? On Sunday, looking back, the sheer resilience to go from gut-punch to gut-punch with no loss of enthusiasm looks downright heroic.

“The passion is what distinguishes Phil,” says Dr. Michael Lardon, a San Diego-based sports psychologist who worked with Mickelson during his 2013 British Open victory. “I was always amazed when I’d spend time with him. He’s as excited as Will Zalatoris is when I see him, and he’s 24. And it’s both golf and life. If you talk to him about any number of subjects that aren’t golf related—politics, consciousness, astrology-—he’s just so excited. Child-like. That’s part of his genius.”

Mickelson’s peers are in utter amazement of his motor.

“His enthusiasm is what keeps him going; at his age, has the same enthusiasm I have at 26, and he’s been doing this a very long time,” says fellow Arizona State grad Jon Rahm. “I mean, he’s been on Tour as long as I’ve been alive. For him to keep that willingness to play and compete and practice, even when he hasn’t been working, it’s truly admirable.”

Collin Morikawa, still shy of his 25th birthday, can only hope he’ll feel the fire in 25 years.

“To see what he’s doing—I mean, that’s amazing,” he says. “And to see him just wanting to keep getting better, wanting to learn, I hope when I hit that age I’m still trying to do that, trying to get better. You can just see it in his eyes that he wants to win, and nothing is really stopping him.”

The putting

Maddie Meyer/PGA of America

The flatstick tends to be the first club to betray an aging golfer. It’s why you see so many guys in their 40s and beyond toy around with the broomstick, the armbar, the claw. The reasons are multiple. A young man does not fear the four-foot comebacker, allowing him to putt aggressively and confidently. An older man, simply put, thinks about the comebacker. Ahem, most old men.

“Phil has only got memories for the best shots he’s ever hit,” says Parker McLachlin, a 42-year-old Tour player whose embarking on a second career in instruction. “He forgets his bad shots quicker than anyone I’ve ever seen. This is extremely helpful when it comes to short game.”

Even with the right mental outlook, there’s a physiological hurdle to overcome; as we age, we lose fine motor control of our extremities. We are not physically capable of letting the putter swing the way we used to. There’s the eyes. So much of putting at the elite level is about reading greens. As your eyes deteriorate, so does your ability to see break, and that bleeds into your confidence.

Which makes that much more impressive that Mickelson accomplished this with a conventional putting grip. And after years of toying with the claw and different putters, he returned to the heel-shafted stick he used in his youth.

“Putting doesn’t have to get worse as you age,” says Stan Utley, a 59-year-old former winner on Tour and current putting guru. “Most older guys, they’ve tried so many things that are wrong, and then these get ingrained. It was so great to see Phil back with a normal putting grip, because so often, guys are band-aiding stuff that wasn’t really broke in the first place. They’re fixing the wrong stuff.”

The speed

The most obvious answer to the why-old-guys-get-worse question: they get weak and slow. It’s why you don’t see any 45-year-old NBA players or NFL players not named Brady. Our bodies peak sometime in the mid-to-late 20s before slowly tapering off. Golfers are not immune to this—granted, Phil wasn’t exactly LeBron to begin with, but if you had him run through a full combine at 30 and one today, 30-year-old Phil would prevail easily. But golf does not force you to run or jump or cut; it calls for a very specific type of physical exertion.

Gregory Shamus

Phil has tailor-made his fitness routine with flexibility in mind. He won’t get confused for Adonis, but he’s found a way to stay springy and actually gain speed in the last five years. On 16, his veins coursing with major-Sunday adrenaline, Mickelson pumped his drive well past 31-year-old Brooks Koepka, 366 down the center, with a cut. He is still long as hell.

The diet (and coffee)

Lefty has become obsessive about taking care of his body in recent years. It’s almost Brady-like. He leaves no stone unturned in his quest to resist aging. In July 2019, with his game lagging and his energy levels sagging, he opted for a six-day fast where all he consumed was coffee. The goal, he said, was a “hard reset.” That takes a level of commitment you or I are not familiar with. He’s since developed his own “Coffee for Wellness”—just ask him about it—but he’s also become a super disciplined eater, cutting out most meats and just generally being extremely careful about what he lets into his stomach.

LeBron and Brady have gone this route. So have Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. It is no coincidence that sporting careers continue to stretch far beyond what we thought was possible. The more we learn about the body, the better equipped athletes are to maximize its performance.

“I wasn’t educated,” Phil told Golf.com’s Luke Kerr-Dineen at last year’s U.S. Open. “I either wasn’t aware or didn’t want to know the things I was putting in my body, whether it was diet soda and how toxic that is, or whether it was the amount of sugar and how much inflammation it causes, or whether it was the quantity; all of those things, I just kind of shut my eyes to.”

Surely, such clean eating (and drinking) has kept him feeling fresh and helped him mitigate the effect of his psoriatic arthritis, which he was diagnosed with in 2010. It’s no coincidence he’s been able to play.

The mindfulness

If you watched Phil down the stretch closely, you couldn’t help but be struck by his sense of zen. He oozed calmness. Interestingly enough, in recent months he’d been honest about his problems focusing. He’d hit good shots and even piece together good rounds, but he’d have a hard time stacking good rounds on top of one another or re-focusing when something takes him out of the zone. Which is totally normal.

“As you age, it typically takes more effort to sustain focus,” says Dr. Bhrett McCabe, who works with a number of PGA Tour pros. “Golf is so hard because the mind is flooded constantly with processes and challenges that make it so hard to stay focused. You add in a major championship, it’s brutal.”

Unwilling to simply accept that new reality, Mickelson has proactively sought out tangible remedies to keep himself sharp.

“I’m working on it,” Mickelson said Friday. “I’m making more and more progress just by trying to elongate my focus. I might try to play 36, 45 holes in a day and try to focus on each shot so that when I go out and play 18, it doesn’t feel like it’s that much. I might try to elongate the time that I end up meditating. I’m trying to use my mind like a muscle and just expand it because as I’ve gotten older, it’s been more difficult for me to maintain a sharp focus, a good visualization and see the shot.”

As he strolled up the final fairway on Sunday, with a mob of fans sprinting in his rearview mirror, Mickelson made a concerted effort to control his breathing. It’s a meditative practice that dates back millennia but is also backed up by modern physiology.

“When you focus on your breathing—say, breathe in on a three-count, hold it for two, then very slowly breathe out—you saturate your red blood cells with oxygen,” says Sean Foley, the noted swing instructor who takes a holistic approach to improvement. “When this happens, the primal part of our hardware is tricked into believing that everything is calm and under control. When our breathing hastens and we don’t have enough oxygen in our red blood cells, our brain begins to detect a threat. This activates our sympathetic nervous system, which regulates our “fight or flight” response.”

How easy it would have been, in that moment, with a cacophony of overserved well-wishers ringing in your ears and history at your fingertips, to let it all spiral out of control. Instead, 50-year-old Phil Mickelson calmy traipsed up toward Kiawah’s 18th green and two-putted for the W. It was the summation of his multi-year crusade against the proverbial setting sun. This time, for once, Father Time finished second.

The post Coffee, meditation, and ‘bombs’: How Phil Mickelson defied his age to make history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
One man’s pleasure is another man’s pain. That was certainly true for Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka as they were swallowed by the masses on the 18th hole Sunday at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, where the throng of fans tried to get as close as possible to Mickelson as the 50-year-old secured his improbable and history victory at the 103rd PGA Championship.

But Koepka found little jubilation in the swarm that enveloped the duo; rather it was a painful trudge.

“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 sh-t, personally,” he said. “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.

“[I was] trying to protect my knee. I don’t think anybody really understands until you actually you’re coming out of surgery how—even when I was doing rehab and there’s five people kind of standing by your knee, you get a little skittish.”

Koepka added that his caddie, Ricky Elliott, got “drilled in the face” as he tried to work his way through the crowd. Then Koepka said he got dinged by the bag because Elliott at one point had to stop quickly and unexpectedly. As for the knee? “It feels like sh-t right now,” Koepka said.

Gather around, folks.

A major champion will soon be crowned. #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/7WuWjHLxKT

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) May 23, 2021

Perhaps just as painful was the outcome.

One back at the start of the day, Koepka quickly grabbed the lead with a birdie to Mickelson’s bogey on the opening hole. But a few minutes later, Koepka found himself in trouble off the tee on the par-5 second, was forced to lay up, airmailed the green with his third then duffed his fourth. A double bogey later, and the lead was again Mickelson’s. Back and forth they went in an exhilarating front nine before Mickelson seized the lead for good with a birdie on the seventh.

While Mickelson accelerated, though, Koepka stumbled.

Seeking a third Wanamaker Trophy in the past four years, Koepka, who underwent surgery in March after he dislocated his kneecap and sustained ligament damage, hit just half his fairways, struggled mightily with his putting and made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch to open his back nine. That included one on the par-5 11th, where his second shot came up well short in a sandy area and his third also failed to reach the green. Then he missed a five-footer for par.

“Just how bad I putted the last two days,” said Koepka when asked what was hardest to stomach. “Three days, actually. It felt like tap-ins I was missing. Never felt comfortable, and you’re not going to win if you do that.”

Jamie Squire
Phil Mickelson soaks up the scene with the sea of fans swarming the 18th—while Brooks Koepka certainly did not.

He also said his surgically repaired knee was not an issue in the final round and that he was able to push off it all week.

Still, he will now have time to rest it. The year’s next major, the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, is a month away and it’s unclear whether Koepka will play before then.

“Yeah, [I’ll] take some time off, relax a little bit and start practicing again,” he said. “Keep doing rehab. Keep doing everything I’m doing and hopefully come out and play well.”

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Not only does Mickelson still move it with 120 miles per hour of clubhead speed—his drive on 18 Saturday went 347 yards—he has played 30 years on tour virtually injury-free. He has never suffered the knee and back injuries big and small that have become a standard part of younger players’ medical files. His short game and putting even resemble their younger selves.

What has made Mickelson this literal and figurative outlier? A rare combination of physical and mental traits—spiked with a double shot of competitiveness. “It starts with a long, unrestricted swing—which is what I think has helped him play so long without injury,” says Golf Digest Teaching Professional Mark Blackburn. “But almost more important than that has been his enthusiasm and positivity. He’s so resilient to the ‘failure’ of all those second-place finishes that he clearly has figured out how to spin them as positives in his mind so they don’t hold him back. That is a powerful superpower.”

Gregory Shamus

It also doesn’t hurt that Mickelson—even at 50–has elite hand-eye coordination that lets him use an unorthodox and timing-dependent swing action to great effect. He is occasionally wild off the tee, but that’s no more or less true than it was in 2000. “I compare him to a player like Michael Jordan,” says top Michigan teacher Jason Guss. “Jordan was never content to just have a dominant game around the rim. He added a jump shot and was just as devastating when he wasn’t the same around the rim. Phil saw that every young player was coming in with huge speed, and he reinvented his game and body and ramped up his speed to stay relevant.”

“Phil Mickelson” things have always been equal parts triumph and tragedy because he is fearless about going for his shot—a part of his almost pathological competitiveness and desire to dominate an opponent. “Usually when you get to your late 40s and early 50s, you’re either super-rich and checked out, burned out or hurt,” says Guss. “Phil is almost a unicorn in that he never checks out or burns out, is still motivated every week to beat your brains in, and is still in fantastic shape. He went out on the Champions Tour and loved taking their money as much as he clearly is enjoying this week. And are you really going to intimidate a guy who played his entire career against peak Tiger Woods? Brooks Koepka is great, but that’s not the same.”

Jamie Squire

Genetics, drive, hours and hours of gym time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in hyperbaric chambers, infrared beds and other anti-inflammatory trinkets have helped make Mickelson a factor as a “mature” player. But even if you have none of those advantages, you can chip off a small piece of what he does and start your own mid-career evolution. “If you can get away from concepts that are ‘compact’ or ‘restricted’ in your swing, you have a much better chance at longevity,” says Blackburn. “You’re better off copying Kyle Berkshire than Jason Dufner, for example.”

You also need to be resilient when it comes to your short game skill development. Improving technique (and expanding the number of shots you know how to hit) will blunt the inevitable decay every player experiences in fine motor skill that starts in the 40s.

“Of course,” says Blackburn, “it will also help you if you’re one of the greatest players of all time.”

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By Alex Myers
As golf fans were made well aware, Phil Mickelson became the oldest player to win a major at the 2021 PGA Championship. But he also made a bit of cheeky flutter history.

With pre-tournament odds of more than 200-to-1 (and as high as 250-to-1 at Westgate SuperBook), Mickelson is the biggest underdog to win one of the four biggest men’s tournaments in at least 16 years. We say, “at least,” because, well, it’s a bit complicated.

Westgate golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman has been tracking such things since 2008 and he has Mickelson as the golfer with the longest odds to win a major in that span. Before that, though, it gets a bit trickier, but there are several that stand out.

We’ll start with Michael Campbell winning the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst and taking down Tiger Woods in the process. That New Zealander’s win was more unlikely than Mickelson’s, but technically, he was listed as part of the field (6-to-1 odds) at most sportsbooks after making it through two rounds of qualifying. That means the only way you could have bet on him would be by wagering on Campbell and others who didn’t have a specified line so you wouldn’t have been able to cash as big of a ticket.

But you don’t have to go back much farther to find an even bigger longshot. That distinction goes to Todd Hamilton, who beat Ernie Els in a playoff to win the 2004 Open Championship. The journeyman was listed at 500-to-1 odds entering that week at Royal Troon.

Actually, that was all part of an incredible three-year run of upsets at majors starting with Rich Beem at the 2002 PGA, Ben Curtis at the 2003 Open, and Shaun Micheel at the 2003 PGA. All three were at least 250-to-1 odds. Crazy stuff.

Which brings us back to Mickelson. What makes his situation so unique, obviously, is that he’s not a journeyman like those other guys, but rather an all-time great. At nearly 51, he just happens to be an old all-time great.

And if you’re wondering what 59-year-old Tom Watson would have been at the 2009 Open, well, it’s another Michael Campbell situation. The eight-time major champ was listed as part of the field that week at Turnberry at 9-to-2 odds. And winner Stewart Cink was 100-to-1.

At the following major, the 2009 PGA, another longshot won his maiden major when Y.E. Yang stunned Tiger Woods at Hazeltine. But even Yang was “only” 125-to-1 odds. Again, Mickelson was double that at some sportsbooks. Same with Keegan Bradley, who was 125-to-1 when he won in his major championship debut at the 2011 PGA.

So again, kudos to Mickelson for making (even more) history. And kudos to you, if you happened to bet on this legendary longshot.

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By Daniel Rapaport
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — It feels silly to type, but each major championship serves as a reminder of just how long major championships are. From the media circus lead up, to the inevitable look at this crazy leader board takes pre-noon on Thursday, to the cut-line battles on Friday afternoon—add in the literal longest course in major championship history and five-plus hour rounds, and this PGA Championship already feels like a complete five-act drama.

Still, we are just halfway through the actual golf portion here at the Ocean Course. A hodge-podge leader board after Round 1 has given way to a star-studded soiree heading into the weekend, with two major champions setting the pace and another major champion one shot behind. Here are five storylines to keep an eye on as we head into the business half of the year’s second major.

Can Phil stay focused?
He may be Champions Tour eligible, but Lefty clearly still has the physical tools to remain a top-level player on the PGA Tour. Thanks to a diet and exercise program tailored toward the goal of additional miles per hour, he hasn’t lost any speed and may have actually gained some whip over the past half-decade. He still hits quality iron shots and still nips jaw-dropping flicks around the green. He even puts together sparkling rounds, like his opening 64 at Quail Hollow just two weeks ago.

The issue has been stacking one of those rounds on top of another one, let alone four in a row. He followed up that 64 in Charlotte with 75-76-76 and finished two touchdowns plus a field goal behind the winning number. Hugely encouraging, then, to see him follow up an opening 70 with a three-under 69 on Friday, which included a back-nine 31. Lefty knows his focus has been an issue; he’s spoken about it at length in recent weeks, including on Friday.

Keyur Khamar
Phil Mickelson smiles and gives a thumbs up to fans after making a birdie putt on the ninth hole.

“I’m just making more and more progress just by trying to elongate my focus,” he said. “I might try to play 36, 45 holes in a day and try to focus on each shot, so that when I go out and play 18, it doesn’t feel like it’s that much. I might try to elongate the time that I end up meditating, but I’m trying to use my mind like a muscle and just expand it because as I’ve gotten older, it’s been more difficult for me to maintain a sharp focus, a good visualization and see the shot.

“Physically, I feel like I’m able to perform and hit the shots that I’ve hit throughout my career, and I feel like I can do it every bit as well as I have, but I’ve got to have that clear picture and focus.”

This is a course that demands attention on each and every shot, which would seem a tall task. But this is also a major championship, and he’s 50 years old and in contention, and he knows that may never happen again. If this won’t jolt him into gear, what will?

What, oh what, will the wind do?
It’s all anyone’s talking about this week. Although modern by age, Kiawah resembles an old-school links layout in that both nines go out, turn, and then head back into the clubhouse. As a result, half the holes play into the wind and half play downwind, and the direction a player faces dictates his mood. Wind at your back, you’re in attack mode. Wind in your face, you’re hanging on for dear life.

The breeze was a bit friskier on Friday than Thursday, which is why the scoring average rose to 75.5 The forecast actually calls for a calmer Saturday, but the intrigue lies with Sunday, when the wind is supposed to flip directions. It’s been out of the east all week, with holes 1-4 playing into the wind, 5 playing crosswind, 6-13 downwind, 14 cross, and 15-18 back into the teeth of it. If that switches to a westerly wind, the entire course flips. The closing four holes, which have been a hold-on-for-life situation, suddenly become birdie opportunities. And those who arrived here last weekend will be glad they did—for there was indeed a westerly wind five days ago.

As golf fans, there’s not much better than the golf gods pulling a 180 on the best players in the world for the final round of a major championship.

There are 31 guys six shots or closer to the lead, which does not feel too far back on a course where 69 will send you shooting up the board. Any number of players can get right back into it with a low one on Saturday. How about Collin Morikawa, six behind, who ranks fourth in strokes gained/off-the-tee and fifth in SG/approach, but 113th in around the green and 118th in putting? Maybe it’s Matt Fitzpatrick, five back, who somehow made six birdies and an eagle on Friday? Joaquin Niemann, four back, who loves flighting it under the wind and profiles as a future major winner? Bryson DeChambeau, also four back? Corey Conners, three back, a flusher’s flusher whose Thursday 66 remains the low round of the week?

Sam Greenwood
Collin Morikawa reacts to a missed putt on the 13th green.

Who’s got a (relatively) low one in them on Saturday to get back in the mix?

Other considerable names that group: Gary Woodland (-2), Sungjae Im (-2), Paul Casey (-2), Viktor Hovland (E), Will Zalatoris (+1), and Lee Westwood (+1), to name a few. Just takes a low one. Easy to say from behind a computer—less so from the first tee of a Pete Dye masterpiece designed to torture.

Can Hideki pull off the double?
You’d excuse Hideki Matsuyama for trudging through a post-Masters lull. Satisfying the cravings of a golf-mad nation by becoming its first male major winner can’t be the most relaxing experience. Since Augusta, he’s flown back to Japan, quarantined in a hotel for two weeks, returned back to the States and played last week in Dallas. So, any fatigue?

“Actually, my energy level is good,” Matsuyama said after an opening-round 73. “I’m really not tired, but my game isn’t where it should be. All my focus is on that right now.”

The focus paid off, as Hideki matched the low round of the day with a four-under 68 to get to three-under for the tournament, just two back of the lead. We’re not saying the calendar Grand Slam dream remains alive and well, but we’re also not not saying it.

Will the PGA of America give these guys a break with the setup?
The PGA Championship is, historically, the gentlest of the four majors as far as course setup. Of the 37 63s in major history, 17 have come in the PGA. The winning score has been single digits under par just twice in the past nine years, with a 20 under and a 16 under sprinkled in. The question, then, is whether the PGA of America will soften the Ocean Course a bit this weekend by using the flexibility it has with tees.

“I noticed it last week when someone sent me a scorecard,” Justin Thomas, who missed the cut, said Tuesday, “and I saw that the back nine was 4,000 yards. I think I actually laughed out loud when I saw it because I was looking at the numbers. They can’t possibly play it that long.”

And they haven’t. During their practice rounds, players were encouraged to hit shots from up tees on 14 holes. They’ve already made use of a number of those tees, particularly on the par-3 17th, which has not yet used the way-back box that tips out past 230 yards. Whether they give these guys more head starts will largely depend on the wind—if it’s soft, they won’t need to, as you simply cannot make a course long enough that players won’t tear it up on a calm afternoon. But if it does continue to blow, and it usually does here, the question then becomes whether the PGA of America wants this to be a ’19 Bethpage-style war of attrition, or a ’20 Harding Park-style race to 14 under. Given the Ocean Course’s reputation, our money is on the former.

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