World
Mickelson stopped fighting to overcome challenge and secure double triumph
Phil Mickelson is regarded as one of the best golfers in the history of the sport, having won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six major championships
Phil Mickelson, a giant in the world of golf with 45 PGA Tour wins and six major titles to his name, has left an unforgettable legacy on the sport.
The 54-year-old legend clinched the Masters three times (2004, 2006, 2010), bagged two PGA Championships (2005, 2021), and boasts one Open Championship victory. Despite his move from the PGA Tour to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf, his impact on the game remains profound.
That said, perhaps one of his more impressive feats came in 2013 when he became the only American to win the Scottish Open and Open Championship in the same year. He defeated Branden Grace and Henrik Stenson, respectively, en route to accomplishing the very difficult feat.
Mickelson’s triumph at the Scottish Open came after he edged out Grace in a nail-biting sudden-death playoff, following their tie at 17 under par. His victory at Castle Stuart was particularly special as it marked his first individual win on UK soil, occurring just before the Open Championship.
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“This is really cool,” Mickelson expressed post-victory. “I have been coming here for some time and had some opportunities and I almost let it slip away today. To come out on top was terrific.”
For his efforts at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, Mickelson pocketed a cool $649,420. His success in Scotland seemed to be a catalyst for his subsequent Open Championship win. Prior to the 2013 event, Mickelson had only managed two top-10 finishes in 19 attempts, highlighting the challenges he’d faced at the tournament, especially considering he was 50 years old at the time.
Mickelson, carrying his momentum into Muirfield, was determined to break his losing streak that had lasted nearly two decades. As he prepared to tackle the course, the American golfer confessed to letting go of any preconceived outcomes and freeing his mind from expectations.
Ultimately, this mindset proved successful as he delivered what could arguably be one of the best performances of his career, outshining Stenson to become the first American to clinch victories in both tournaments. “I had a lot of confidence that I had the game and I was playing well enough at the time to win The Open Championship,” Mickelson revealed post-victory, as reported by The Open.
“I kept trying to find a way to outsmart or outplay Muirfield, and I just gave up on that and decided to not try and overpower the golf course. I felt like I was gonna handle whatever conditions were thrown at me, no matter how difficult or challenging or fair or unfair. I felt like I was gonna be ready for it.”
Mickelson concluded the tournament with a score of -3, attributing much of his success to concentrating on his own game rather than constantly checking on his competitors. “What I did really well was mentally not worry too much about what other guys were doing,” he further added.
“Because I knew, at the end of the day, the winning score was gonna be around even par. … The course was just too testing. There would be a few guys that might be able to shoot under par, but the field wasn’t going to be able to and those few that did shoot under par eventually would come back, so I focused more on keeping my score around level.”
Despite his achievements up to that point, Mickelson couldn’t help but admire his own performance. “I needed to show up and play some of my best golf, and I did. I played some of the best golf of my career,” he concluded.
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