Phil Mickelson: The Life Story Behind Golf's Lefty
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Phil Mickelson is the golfer who could never be predicted. He could hit a shot that no one else would try, and he could miss a shot that no one else would miss, and both things could happen in the same round, on the same hole, in front of the same crowd. That is why people loved to watch him. He was not a safe golfer. He was a brave golfer, and sometimes his bravery looked like genius, and sometimes it looked like madness, and often it was hard to tell which one it was until the ball stopped moving. He played golf left-handed, although he is right-handed in most other parts of his life, and that odd fact became the centre of his identity. He was Lefty, the man who saw the game from the other side.
He was born in San Diego, California, and he learned the game by standing opposite his father and copying him in a mirror image. His father was right-handed, and young Phil stood facing him and swung the club the other way, and the habit stayed with him for life. It was a strange beginning, and it gave him a strange game, a game built on imagination and feel rather than on textbook positions. He could hit a flop shot over a bunker from a lie that looked impossible, and he could make a putt from a distance that looked hopeless, and he did it with a smile that made it look easy, even when it was not.
He won six major championships, including three Masters titles, and he won the PGA Championship in 2021 at the age of fifty, becoming the oldest man ever to win a major. That win, at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, was one of the great surprises in golf, and it came after years when many people thought his best days were over. He also won the Open Championship in 2013, a win that surprised even him, because links golf had never been his favourite kind of golf. His career is a story of talent, of risk, of family, and of a man who kept trying new things long after other golfers had settled into a safe routine.
A San Diego Boy Who Learned Backwards
Philip Alfred Mickelson was born on 16 June 1970 in San Diego, California. His father, Phil Mickelson Sr., was a Navy pilot who later became a commercial airline pilot, and his mother, Mary, kept the family home. Phil was the oldest child, and he grew up in a house where sport was taken seriously but not too seriously, and where a child was allowed to try things in his own way. His father played golf, and young Phil wanted to play too, and he learned by standing across from his father and mirroring his swing. It was a natural thing for a small boy to do, and it had a lasting effect. He became a left-handed golfer in a right-handed world, and he never changed.
He went to school in San Diego, and he played junior golf, and he was good at it from an early age. He was not the biggest boy, and he was not the strongest, but he had a wonderful touch around the greens, and he had a mind that loved to solve problems. He went to Arizona State University on a golf scholarship, and he became one of the best college golfers in America. He won the NCAA individual championship three times, in 1989, 1990, and 1992, a feat that showed how far ahead of other college players he was. He also won the United States Amateur championship in 1990, and he played in the Walker Cup for America.
In 1991, while he was still an amateur, he won a PGA Tour event, the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Arizona. It was a remarkable achievement, because amateurs very rarely win professional tournaments, and it showed that Mickelson was ready for the professional game even before he had turned professional. He turned pro in 1992, and he won his first event as a professional in 1993, at the Buick Invitational in San Diego, close to his home. It was a happy win, in front of family and friends, and it was the start of a professional career that would last for more than thirty years.
He married Amy McBride in 1996, and they had three children, Amanda, Sophia, and Evan. Amy became a central part of his life and his career, travelling with him, supporting him, and helping him through the hard times. The family lived in California, and Mickelson was known as a family man, a golfer who liked to be at home with his children when he was not playing. That side of him, the warm and open family man, was a large part of why fans loved him. He was not a distant star. He was a father, a husband, and a son, and he talked about his family openly and with pride.
The Long Wait for a First Major
For all his talent, Mickelson had a problem in the early years of his professional career. He could not win a major championship. He came close many times, and he finished second or third, and he played well, but he did not win. The press began to call him the best player never to win a major, and the label hurt him, because he knew it was true, and he did not know how to change it. He won many regular tournaments, more than forty in total on the PGA Tour, but the majors were different, and he could not seem to win one.
The near misses were painful. He finished second at the United States Open in 1999, when he made a double bogey on the last hole and lost by one shot. He finished third at the Masters in 2001, and second in 2002, and third again in 2003. Each time, he played well enough to win, and each time, something went wrong at the wrong moment. Some people said he was too aggressive, that he tried shots he should not have tried, and that his bravery cost him majors. There was some truth in that, but there was also a simpler truth: winning a major is hard, and even great players can go years without winning one.
He worked on his game, and he worked on his mind, and he kept believing that his time would come. He changed his preparation, he practised his short game even more, and he learned to be a little more careful at the right moments, without losing the bravery that made him special. It was a hard balance to find, and it took him years to find it, but when he did, the results were wonderful. He did not become a different golfer. He became a better version of the golfer he already was, and that was enough.
In 2004, at the Masters, his time finally came. He was thirty-three years old, and he had been a professional for twelve years, and he had never won a major. On the last day at Augusta, he played a brilliant round, and he made a birdie on the last hole to beat Ernie Els by one shot. He jumped into the air when the putt went in, and his smile was so wide that it seemed to fill the whole of Augusta. It was a moment of pure joy, and it was a moment that millions of people shared, because they had waited with him, and they had wanted him to win. The long wait was over, and Phil Mickelson was a major champion at last.
Three Masters and a Win at the Open
The 2004 Masters win changed Mickelson. He was no longer the best player never to win a major. He was a major champion, and he played with a freedom that he had not had before. He won the PGA Championship in 2005 at Baltusrol, and he won the Masters again in 2006, and he won the Masters for a third time in 2010, in a week that was full of emotion for his family. His wife Amy and his mother Mary had both been treated for breast cancer in 2009, and the family had been through a hard year, and his win at Augusta in 2010 felt like a gift after a difficult time. He hugged Amy on the green, and the picture of that hug became one of the most loved pictures in golf.
He also won the Open Championship in 2013 at Muirfield in Scotland, a win that surprised many people, because links golf, with its wind and its firm fairways and its deep bunkers, had never suited his high, soft game. But he prepared carefully, he practised in Scotland, he learned to hit the ball lower, and he played a brilliant final round, making birdies on four of the last six holes to win by three shots. It was a win that showed his ability to learn, and to change, and to win in a way that no one expected. He was forty-three years old, and he had won a major in a style that was new to him, and that made the win even sweeter.
By then he had won five majors, and he had won more than forty tournaments on the PGA Tour, and he was one of the most popular golfers in the world. He was known for his short game, for his flop shots, for his daring, and for his smile. He was also known for his generosity with fans, signing autographs for hours, and for his work with his wife on charity projects. He was a star, but he was a star who seemed to enjoy being a star, and who enjoyed the people who came to watch him play.
He also played in the Ryder Cup many times for America, and he was part of the team that won in 2016 at Hazeltine, after a long run of American losses. He was a leader in the team room, and he spoke openly about what the American team needed to change, and his honesty helped the team to improve. He was not always an easy teammate, and he had his disagreements, but he cared about the Ryder Cup, and he cared about playing for his country, and that mattered to him and to his teammates.
The PGA at Fifty and the LIV Decision
In May 2021, at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, Mickelson did something that no one thought was possible. He won a major championship at the age of fifty, becoming the oldest major winner in history. He beat Brooks Koepka, who was twenty years younger, by two shots, and he did it in front of a huge crowd that followed him up the last fairway, cheering so loudly that it was hard to hear. He raised his arms, he smiled, and he looked like a man who could not believe what he had done. It was his sixth major, and it was his second PGA Championship, and it was a win that will be remembered for as long as golf is played.
The win at fifty was a triumph of experience over youth, and of imagination over power. Mickelson could not hit the ball as far as the young men, but he could think his way around a course, and he could hit the short shots that saved him when he was in trouble. He also had a calm mind, and he did not panic when the pressure came. He had been in that position many times before, and he knew what it felt like, and he knew how to handle it. The young men around him were strong, but they were not as calm, and that made the difference.
A year later, in 2022, Mickelson made a decision that divided the golf world. He joined LIV Golf, a new tour funded by Saudi Arabia, and he left the PGA Tour, where he had played for thirty years. The decision was controversial, and many fans and writers criticised him for it, and he lost sponsors and friends over it. He has spoken about the decision since, and he has said that he believes in the new tour, and that he wanted to help golf grow in new ways. Other people have a different view, and the argument about LIV Golf is still going on. It is a part of his story that is hard to ignore, and it is a part that shows a man who was willing to take a risk, even when the risk cost him a great deal.
He also faced other difficulties in his later career, including a public discussion about his gambling, which he has spoken about openly, saying that it had been a problem for him in the past and that he had worked to control it. He has been honest about that, and his honesty has been respected by many people, even those who disagreed with him about other things. He is a man who has made mistakes, and who has admitted them, and who has kept playing, and that is a human story, not just a golf story.
What Lefty Leaves Behind in Golf
Mickelson’s legacy is a complicated one, because it contains great wins and difficult decisions, and because he is still playing and still making news. But his golf legacy is clear. He was one of the great shot-makers in the history of the game, a man who could hit shots that other golfers would not even try, and who made the game more exciting to watch. He won six majors, he won forty-five times on the PGA Tour, and he won the oldest major at the age of fifty, a feat that may never be repeated.
He also leaves a legacy as a family man, as a generous fan favourite, and as a golfer who loved the game and loved to play it in his own way. He was never a safe golfer, and he never wanted to be one. He wanted to be brave, and he was brave, and sometimes bravery cost him, and sometimes it won him a major championship. That is the story of Phil Mickelson, and it is a story that will be told for a long time, because it is a story about a man who played the game his way, and who won his way, and who never stopped trying new things.
He is still playing, and he is still a figure in golf, and his story is not yet finished. But even if he never wins again, he has already done enough to be remembered as one of the great golfers of his time, and as one of the most entertaining golfers who ever lived. Lefty will be remembered for his smile, for his flop shots, for his Masters wins, and for that day at Kiawah Island when a fifty-year-old man beat the young men and reminded the world that age is not always a limit.
The Ryder Cup, the Short Game, and a Golfer Who Loved a Crowd
Mickelson played in the Ryder Cup for America many times, from 1995 onwards, and he became one of the most experienced members of the team, and one of its most passionate voices. He loved the Ryder Cup, because it was a team event, in a sport that is mostly individual, and because it gave him a chance to play for his country, and to celebrate with his teammates. He played well in some Ryder Cups, and badly in others, and he was part of teams that won, and teams that lost, and he learned from both. In 2016, at Hazeltine in Minnesota, he was part of the American team that won the Cup back from Europe, after a long run of defeats, and he played a key role, winning points, and leading in the team room, and speaking openly about what the American team needed to change. His honesty helped, and his experience helped, and the win meant a great deal to him, because he had waited a long time for it.
His short game was the part of his golf that other players admired most, and that fans loved to watch. He could hit a flop shot, a high, soft shot that lands gently and stops quickly, from a lie that looked impossible, and he could do it with a smile, as if it were easy. He practised his short game for hours, chipping and pitching from every kind of lie, because he knew that a golfer who can save par from trouble is a golfer who can win tournaments. He was not the longest hitter, and he was not the most accurate driver, but around the greens, he was the best in the world, and that saved him again and again, in majors, and in regular tournaments, when his long game was not working. Young golfers who study his career learn that the short game is not a small part of golf. It is a large part, and it can win you majors, if you work at it as hard as Mickelson did.
He was also a golfer who loved a crowd, and who loved to sign autographs, and to talk to fans, and to make them feel welcome. He would stay for hours after a round, signing for children, and for adults, and he would smile, and he would chat, and he would make people feel that they mattered. That generosity made him one of the most popular golfers in the world, and it is a large part of why fans forgave him his mistakes, and why they rooted for him, even when he was not playing well. He was a star who enjoyed being a star, and who shared his stardom with the people who came to watch him, and that is a rare and valuable quality in a famous person.
Family, Illness, and the Win That Meant More Than Golf
The year 2009 was a hard one for the Mickelson family. His wife Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer, and his mother Mary was also diagnosed with the same illness, and the family had to face two serious illnesses at the same time, while Phil was trying to play golf, and to be a father to three children. He took time away from the game, to be with his family, and to support them, and he spoke about it openly, and with great love, and he said that golf did not matter, compared to his family’s health. Amy and Mary both received treatment, and both recovered, and the family came through a difficult year together, stronger for it, and grateful for the care they had received.
His win at the Masters in 2010, the year after those illnesses, felt like a gift, and like a reward for a hard year. He played beautifully at Augusta, and he made a wonderful shot on the thirteenth hole, from the pine straw, through a gap in the trees, a shot that only he would have tried, and that only he could have played, and he won by three shots, and he hugged Amy on the green, and the picture of that hug became one of the most loved in golf. It was not just a golf win. It was a family win, a win after illness, and a win that said life goes on, and joy can come back after sadness. That is a beautiful thing, and it is a reminder that sport is part of life, and that the best moments in sport are often the moments when life and sport come together.
He and Amy have also worked for charity, raising money for breast cancer research, and for other causes, and they have given their time and their money to help others. He is a family man, a husband, a father, and a son, and he talks about his family openly, and with pride, and that side of him, the warm and open family man, is a large part of why fans love him. He is not a distant star. He is a man who loves his family, and who has been through hard times with them, and who has come out the other side, with his family beside him, and that is a story that many people can understand, because they have been through hard times too.
My Take:
I think Phil Mickelson is the most human of the great golfers, and I mean that as a compliment. Nicklaus was almost perfect. Palmer was almost perfect in a different way. Mickelson was never perfect. He was brilliant and careless, brave and foolish, generous and stubborn, all at the same time, and that is what made him so interesting to watch. I have never been perfect at anything, and I suspect most people have not, and when I watch Mickelson, I see a man who is like me, only better at golf. He tries hard, he makes mistakes, he tries again, and sometimes he does something wonderful. That is a human story, and I like human stories more than perfect stories.
What I admire most about him is his imagination. He sees shots that other golfers do not see. He sees a flop shot over a bunker, or a putt from off the green, or a recovery from the trees, and he believes he can play it, and often he can. That imagination is a gift, and it is a gift that cannot be taught. You can teach a person to hit a golf ball straight, but you cannot teach them to imagine a shot that no one else has imagined. Mickelson has that gift, and he has used it for thirty years, and it has given golf some of its most exciting moments. I think imagination is undervalued in life. We praise hard work, and we should, but imagination is what makes hard work into something special, and Mickelson has it in abundance.
I also think about his long wait for a first major, and about how hard that must have been. He was called the best player never to win a major, and that label followed him for years. It must have been painful to hear it, and to read it, and to know that it was true. But he did not give up. He kept working, he kept believing, and in 2004, at the age of thirty-three, he won the Masters, and the joy on his face told the whole story. I think about that when I feel like giving up on something I have wanted for a long time. Twelve years is a long time to wait. Most people would have given up after five years, or after three. Mickelson waited twelve years, and he won, and that is a lesson in patience that I want to remember.
His win at the Masters in 2010, after his wife and his mother had been ill, moves me in a different way. It was not just a golf win. It was a family win, a win after a hard year, a win that said life goes on, and joy can come back after sadness. When he hugged Amy on the green, I felt as if I was watching a real family, not just a golfer and his wife, but two people who had been through something hard together and had come out the other side. That is a beautiful thing, and it is a reminder that sport is not separate from life. It is part of life, and the best moments in sport are often the moments when life and sport come together.
The 2021 PGA Championship, when he won at fifty, is the part of his story that I think about most. I am not fifty, but I know what it feels like to be told you are too old for something. Mickelson was told he was too old, and he was told he could not beat the young men, and he went out and beat them anyway. He did it with experience, with calm, and with imagination, and he did it in front of a crowd that roared him home. I think that win gave hope to a lot of people who are not young anymore, and who wonder whether they still have something to offer. Mickelson showed them that they do. Age is not a wall. It is a number, and numbers can be beaten.
I have to be honest about the LIV decision, because it is a large part of his later story, and it is a part that many people feel strongly about. I do not know all the facts, and I do not want to pretend that I do. I know that he joined a new tour, that many people criticised him, that he lost sponsors, and that he has defended his decision. I think it was a brave decision in one sense, because it cost him a great deal, and I think it was a sad decision in another sense, because it divided golf and it divided his fans. I do not have a simple opinion about it, and I do not think a simple opinion is possible. What I will say is this: a person’s life is not one decision. It is many decisions, and many wins, and many mistakes, and Mickelson’s life contains all of those things. The LIV decision is part of his story, but it is not the whole story, and I do not want to let it erase the six majors, the Masters wins, and the joy he gave to millions of people.
I also respect his honesty about gambling. It is not easy to admit that you have had a problem, especially when you are famous, and especially when people are already criticising you. He admitted it, and he said he had worked to control it, and that honesty takes courage. I think we should respect a person who tells the truth about their mistakes, rather than hiding them. We all make mistakes, and we all have things we are not proud of, and a person who can say so openly is a person who is trying to be better. That is a good example, and it is one I want to remember.
His short game is something I think about a lot, because it is a lesson in making the most of what you have. Mickelson was never the longest hitter, and he was never the most accurate driver, but he was the best around the greens, and that saved him again and again. He turned a weakness into a strength by working on the part of the game that other people ignored. I think that is a useful lesson for life. You do not have to be the best at everything. You have to be very good at something, and you have to work on it until it becomes your strength. Mickelson did that with his short game, and it won him majors.
If I had to pick one thing that a young golfer should learn from him, it would be to be brave, but to be brave with a purpose. Mickelson was brave, and sometimes his bravery cost him, but he never stopped being brave. He learned to be a little more careful, but he never became a safe golfer, and I am glad he did not. Golf needs brave players, and life needs brave people, and Mickelson is one of them. He showed that you can be brave and still win, and that you can win in your own way, even if your way is different from everyone else’s.
In the end, I think Phil Mickelson will be remembered as a golfer who gave people joy. He gave them joy with his shots, with his smile, with his comebacks, and with his wins at Augusta and at Kiawah Island. He also gave them sadness, with his mistakes and his controversial decisions, but that is part of being human. A perfect golfer would be boring. Mickelson was never boring, and I am glad. I hope he keeps playing, and I hope he keeps trying new things, because the game is more interesting when he is in it. Lefty is a one-of-a-kind golfer, and there will never be another one quite like him.
I will finish by saying that his story teaches me to keep going, even when the wait is long, even when people doubt you, and even when you make mistakes. He waited twelve years for a first major. He won a major at fifty. He made mistakes, and he admitted them, and he kept playing. That is a life, and it is a good life, and it is one I respect, even when I do not agree with every choice he made. The man who learned golf backwards, by mirroring his father, ended up playing golf in a way that no one else could copy, and that is a fine thing to have done.
I keep thinking about his father, and about the way he learned golf by standing opposite his father and copying him in a mirror image. That is a lovely image, a small boy, standing across from his father, swinging a club the other way, and learning a game that would become his life. It was an accident, in a way, and it became his identity, and it gave him a game that no one else had. I think about the accidents in my own life, the small things that happened by chance, and that became large things, and I am grateful for them, because they made me who I am, just as that mirrored swing made Mickelson who he is. Life is full of accidents, and some of them are gifts, if we are willing to accept them.
There is another part of his story that stays with me, and it is the way he handled his family’s illnesses in 2009. His wife and his mother were both ill, at the same time, and he took time away from golf, to be with them, and to support them, and he said that golf did not matter, compared to family. That is a true thing to say, and a brave thing to say, for a man whose whole life is golf. He put family first, and he was right to do so, and the family came through, and his win at the Masters in 2010 felt like a reward for that hard year. I think about my own family, and about what I would do if they were ill, and I hope I would do what Mickelson did: put them first, and let golf, or work, or anything else, wait. Family is the main thing, and everything else is second, and Mickelson understood that, and he lived it.
I also think about his generosity with fans, and about the hours he spent signing autographs, and talking to people, long after other golfers had gone home. That is a small thing, and it is a large thing, because it shows that he understood that fans are the reason a golfer can make a living, and that they deserve respect, and time, and a smile. I have been a fan, and I know what it feels like when a famous person takes time for you, and how much it means, and how long you remember it. Mickelson gave that gift to thousands of people, and they remember it, and they love him for it, even when they disagree with him about other things. That is a good legacy, and it is one I want to remember.
Finally, I think about his flop shots, and about the joy they gave to people who watched him. A flop shot is a high, soft shot, played from a difficult lie, that lands gently and stops quickly, and it is a shot that only a brave golfer would try, and only a skilled golfer could play. Mickelson played it again and again, and he made it look easy, and he made crowds gasp, and cheer, and smile. That is a gift, to give people joy with a golf shot, and Mickelson gave it, for thirty years, and I am glad he did, because the world needs joy, and it needs people who can create it, with a club, and a ball, and a little bit of imagination.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Phil Mickelson play golf left-handed?
He is right-handed in most parts of his life, but he learned golf by standing opposite his father and mirroring his swing, so he became a left-handed golfer. The habit stayed with him, and he became known as Lefty, one of the most famous left-handed golfers in history.
How many major championships has Phil Mickelson won?
He has won six major championships: three Masters titles in 2004, 2006, and 2010, the PGA Championship in 2005 and 2021, and the Open Championship in 2013. His win at the 2021 PGA Championship at the age of fifty made him the oldest major winner ever.
When did Phil Mickelson win his first Masters?
He won his first Masters in 2004, at the age of thirty-three, after waiting twelve years as a professional for a first major title. He made a birdie on the last hole to beat Ernie Els by one shot, and he jumped in the air with joy when the putt went in.
What is Phil Mickelson famous for in his short game?
He is famous for his flop shots, his touch around the greens, and his ability to save par from difficult lies. His short game was one of the best in golf, and it saved him many times when his long game was not working, especially in his major wins.
Why did Phil Mickelson join LIV Golf?
In 2022 he joined LIV Golf, a new tour funded by Saudi Arabia, leaving the PGA Tour where he had played for thirty years. The move was controversial and cost him sponsors and friends, and he has defended it as a way to help golf grow, while many fans and writers have criticised the decision.
Who is Phil Mickelson’s wife and family?
He married Amy McBride in 1996, and they have three children, Amanda, Sophia, and Evan. Amy has been a central part of his life and career, and the family went through a hard year in 2009 when both Amy and Phil’s mother were treated for breast cancer.
