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Phil Mickelson, 50, wins PGA Championship to become oldest major champion in golf history

ESPN.com

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. -- Phil Mickelson captured his sixth major and by far the most surprising Sunday at the PGA Championship, becoming, at the age of 50, the oldest winner in major championship history.

He made two early birdies with that magical wedge game and let a cast of contenders fall too far behind to catch him in the shifting wind of Kiawah Island.

He closed with a 1-over 73, building a five-shot lead on the back nine and not making any critical mistakes that kept him from his place in history.

Julius Boros for 53 years held the distinction of golf's oldest major champion. He was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship in San Antonio.
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Pure chaos broke out along the 18th hole after Mickelson hit 9-iron safely to just outside 15 feet that all but secured a most improbable victory. Thousands of fans engulfed him down the fairway -- a scene typically seen only at the British Open -- until Mickelson emerged into view with a thumbs-up.

Chants of "Lefty! Lefty! Lefty!'' chased him onto the green and into the scoring tent, his final duty of a week he won't soon forget.

Three months after 43-year-old Tom Brady won a seventh Super Bowl, Mickelson added to this year of ageless wonders. Mickelson became the first player in PGA Tour history to win tournaments 30 years apart. The first of his 45 titles was in 1991 when he was still a junior at Arizona State.

Mickelson became the 10th player to win majors in three decades, an elite list that starts with Harry Vardon and was most recently achieved by Tiger Woods.

"He's been on tour as long as I've been alive,'' Jon Rahm said. "For him to keep that willingness to play and compete and practice, it's truly admirable.''

Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen had their chances, but only briefly. Koepka was 4 over on the par 5s when the game was still on and closed with a 74. Oosthuizen hit into the water as he was trying to make a final run and shot 73.

Mickelson finished at 6-under 282.

The victory came one week after Mickelson accepted a special exemption into the U.S. Open because at No. 115 in the world and winless the last two years, he no longer was exempt from qualifying. He had not finished in the top 20 in his last 17 tournaments over nearly nine months. He worried that he was no longer able to keep his focus over 18 holes.

And then he beat the strongest field of the year -- 99 of the top 100 players -- and made it look easy.
Phil Mickelson became the first player in PGA Tour history to win tournaments 30 years apart. The first of his 45 titles was in 1991 when he was still a junior at Arizona State. Matt York/AP Photo

The PGA Championship had the largest and loudest crowd since the return from the COVID-19 pandemic -- the PGA of America said it limited tickets to 10,000, and it seemed like twice that many -- and it clear what they wanted to see.

The opening hour made it seem as though the final day could belong to anyone. The wind finished its switch to the opposite direction from the opening rounds, and while there was low scoring early, Mickelson and Koepka traded brilliance and blunder.

Koepka flew the green with a wedge on the par-5 second hole, could only chip it about 6 feet to get out of an impossible lie and made double bogey, a three-shot swing when Mickelson hit a deft pitch from thick grass behind the green.

Mickelson holed a sand shot from short of the green on the par-5 third, only for Koepka to tie for the lead with a two-shot swing on the sixth hole when he made birdie and Lefty missed the green well to the right.

Kevin Streelman briefly had a share of the lead. Louis Oosthuizen was lurking, even though it took him seven holes to make a birdie.

And then the potential for any drama was sucked out to sea.

Oosthuizen, coming off a birdie to get within three, had to lay up out of the thick grass on the 13th and then sent his third shot right of the flag and into the water, making triple bogey.

Just like that, Mickelson was up by five and headed toward the inward holes, the wind at his back on the way home with what seemed like the entire state of South Carolina at his side.

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/315...on-golf-history

That is just awesome.

I have always been a Mickelson fan. Very inspiring.

Way to go Lefty!

I heard on the radio that Phil hit his drive on the 18th 366 yards yesterday. I know it was wind-aided, but that's crazy for anyone, much less a 50 year old. He out-drove Koepka on that hole, and Koepka can mash.

(Except for Brady) It's always gratifying to see the older guys defy the odds and take care of business in their sports: Foreman in '94, Jimmy Connors' run at the US Open in '91, etc .

Is this anything? I'm not really a fan of golf, more fun to play than to watch. All of this golf talk is taking away from my UDFA Browns' appreciation time.

jc

Since when is 50 old? Golf isnt the most athletic of sports.

Was really fun to watch that last round...

Phil will be extremely ticked off at how much this win will cost him in taxes. He’s gonna whine about that a lot.

Good for him, he earned it, but I was rooting for anyone else yesterday.

It's very athletic. Your small twitch muscles have to be fine tuned. If the ability to concentrate is a part of athletics, it might be the most grueling sport of all. In other sports they say the legs go first. In golf it is usually in the hands and eyes.

Even in perfect, controlled conditions, impacting the clubface perfectly on the ball is no small feat. Start to add in things like angle of attack, how hard to hit, lie, wind...you get the idea.

True, any out of shape person can go out and hack out a round, and even play fairly well, but the difference between a pro golfer and even a low handicap golfer is huge.

j/c...

The Brooks Koepka interview with the Golf Channel and Bryson DeChambeau walking behind him during the interview is fantastic.

Koepka's disdain for DeChambeau is on full display and it's great.

Cannot post due to profanity.

He didn't just outdrive Koepka.. it was the longest drive on that hole all week.

I heard it was the longest drive of the entire tournament but I can't verify that.

Hitting it 366, literally at sea level, even with the wind is a monster hit for a 50 year old.

It was the longest drive on hole 16 all week. Absolutely crushed it for Phil being 50 (51 in June).

Not the longest of the entire tournament. Hole 11 had the longest drives of the tourney. Here's the data:

https://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/stats/stat.159.y2021.eon.t033.html

Was cleaning out the basement over the weekend and found a box that held the very first, really nice, golf clubs that I ever owned. It's a Cleveland Classic Persimmon Wood driver, with 3 and 5 woods. circa 1979-80 (ish) They look like new.

I put it down beside my current driver and it's absolutely no mystery how Phil can still hit it 300+ yards all the time.

First, and most obviously, the new driver is about 3x the side of the wood driver. Add in the technology of loft adjustments, right/left weight ratio adjustments, the reflex of an engineered titanium face, the titanium shaft...

But the real magic is the sweet spot. The sweet spot on those old clubs is about the size of gnats arse.. if you didn't hit it dead center, it shook your hands and went nowhere. The sweet spot in the new ones is like a catchers mitt. Just hit it somewhere on the face and you will likely end up with a decent, playable shot.

Indeed, the sweet spot was small, but boy, when you hit it between the screws, it felt great. You don't get that feel anymore.

I would say most on here didn't play with wooden "woods".

I still play with a set of original Ping Zing irons that I snagged from my grandpa’s basement when he died. They were brand new and still in the box around ‘95. He had about ten different sets still in boxes at the time that he’d won from various outings and events.

I have used them since playing on the high school team and can’t seem to give them up. I hit them so well along with a Nike Victory Red 2 iron I bought back in late 90s/early 2000s. Same goes for my Vokey 60 degree wedge. I’ve nearly bought the Titelist AP2 irons several times in years past, but can’t seem to give up the Ping Zings.

I use a hickory shaft putter. I have fooled around with others over the last 50 years, but I always seem to come back to "Billy".

My g/f at the time and now wife, bought me a Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 1.5 back in ~2005.

I'll never buy another putter.

I was calling the putter Billy before that. Not the Baroo part.

I think they stole the idea from me.

Smails was also a judge.. maybe it's a judge thing.