Phil at the PGAs: ’The Best Theater Ever in a Major’

(Special contributor Steve Brandon, an aficionado of watching golf’s majors on television, filed this report about Phil Mickelson’s victory at last week’s PGA Championship. Mickelson, who turns 51 on June 16, is the oldest man ever to claim a major title.

Like the guy said while trying to get his ball out of the pit of a bunker in the Workday commercial:

“Phil? Phil? Phil!”

Seriously, Phil Mickelson winning any golf tournament not on the PGA’s Champions tour?

Winning another (insert scoff or laugh) MAJOR?

Phil? Phil?

Yes, Phil!

Phil, Phil, Phil.

That was the battle cry last Sunday at Kiawah Island, and around the world, and in my man cave, as Mickelson marched to one of the most unforeseen and improbable victories in sports history.

This was “Miracle on Ice,” Buster Douglas stuff.

I was glad, and feel lucky, to have been able to see it.

If you saw it, too – and assuming you weren’t one of the few people not pulling for Phil – were you as nervous as I was throughout the final round of the 103rd PGA Championship?

It was up and down and back and forth and all over the place in a battle mostly between Mickelson and one of the best players on the planet, Brooks Koepka, who fittingly played the role of heavy in the final pairing.

With 18 holes to go, everyone was wondering if Mickelson, whose best days seemingly were behind him, could really beat Koepka, a knockout artist, as well as hold off the threat of veteran Louis Oosthuizen and others?

Could “Lefty” beat the odds (said to be as much as 300-1 against him), beat an extremely difficult and long course, beat the wind, beat the pressure and defeat Father Time?

It wasn’t over till it was over – it rarely is in majors or with Phil – but he did it.

Phil!

An unforgettable day. So many memorable moments – from Mickelson losing his third-round lead on the first hole to the wild scene on the final hole. Thousands of delirious fans couldn’t hold back their excitement and stormed onto the fairway after Phil had all but clinched the win with a green-finding 9-iron out of the rough.

I’ve closely followed golf for more than six decades, since pretty much the start of Arnold Palmer bringing the sport to life on television – and I think Mickelson’s triumph probably was the best theater ever in a major tournament, with apologies to Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnie and others.

It’s never a shock when the great Masters win again at Augusta National. This was a shocker.

It couldn’t have come to a more likable legend, either.

The return of roars at a big golf tournament made it all the more stirring. Contrast Sunday’s finish with that of the 2020 PGA Championship, when Collin Morikawa won in the atmosphere of a Tuesday morning at your local public library.

Morikawa, by the way, was 23.

Maybe he can win a major in 2047. Maybe someone will win a major someday at 51 or older.

But that won’t lessen the magnitude of the achievement for a player who, while blessed much of his life, hasn’t been without challenges and health battles in his life.

I still remember watching the 1968 PGA Championship, where smooth Old Man River Julius Boros (my mother’s favorite) became the oldest major champion with a win at 46, edging Palmer, who hit an incredible 3-wood out of the rough and around the trees to within eight feet on the cup on the final hole, but couldn’t sink the putt to force a playoff.

That was pretty much the last time Palmer would contend in a major (a win would have given him a career Grand Slam).

Mickelson admitted after winning Sunday that he might never win again.

But, just as with his pal and sometimes-playing partner, Tom Brady, if he never lifts another trophy, he’ll always be remembered for this one, and for his 45 career victories, for his short game skills, for his personality, for how he engages with fans a la Palmer, and for, well, Phil being Phil.

I wouldn’t place Mickelson’s Sunday win ahead of what the 43-year-old Brady did in winning last season’s Super Bowl. Phil had to go four very tough rounds, but football is football. Golf isn’t easy, but playing quarterback in the NFL is about as challenging as it gets. Brady had to go months with a new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, learning his teammates and a new system on the fly, teaching them how to win, and lasting through 20 games, including four in the playoffs, where they knocked off the likes of Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, and Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.

That was no fluke, and neither was what Mickelson did last week.

Golf has had a lot of comeback winners in the past year or so: Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Stewart Cink, Lydia Ko and more.

None in majors, though, and certainly none playing with the pressure of realizing that this could be their last good shot, their final opportunity.

We’ve all seen Mickelson blow other opportunities or have someone beat him to the trophy. He has had 11 second-place finishes in majors. And the Pete Dye Ocean Course along the coast of South Carolina was made for collapses.

Somehow, Mickelson dodged the land mines and made it safely to shore, to that 72nd green with a two-shot lead.

With brother Tim on the bag, the Mickelson Team executed almost flawlessly, no doubt also a tribute to Phil’s newfound mental, almost Zen-like approach that gave him the focus he needed.

It was amazing watching him and his body hold up to the rigors, and then seeing so many of his PGA Tour colleagues hanging around to congratulate him.

Several of them said they didn’t want to leave, they just couldn’t leave, because they just had to witness this history being made.

I suspect that’s how millions of us felt at home and around our TV screens.

And something tells me we’ll soon be seeing more Mickelson commercials.

Readers: what are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below.

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