There’s one reason Phil keeps going – the chance of immortality

You might wonder why Phil Mickelson keeps going.

After all, he is getting on a wee bit at 47 years old.

With 42 career wins on the PGA Tour, including five Majors, he has little left to prove in the game.

His bank manager has no reason to doubt him, either.

As it stands, Phil is second only to Tiger Woods in official career winnings at $84m, plus a lot more in off-course earnings.

But a golfer – especially one as successful as Phil Mickelson – needs a special sort of drive within himself, and it has nothing to do with money.

In Phil’s case, winning is the thing, and specifically, winning the US Open to complete his Grand Slam.

Make no mistake, even at this stage of his career, it irks him that he hasn’t won a tournament since The Open at Muirfield in 2013.

That’s why he plays nearly every week on Tour – to prove to himself he has still got what it takes.

He came close last weekend at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, where he almost claimed a remarkable victory.

In the end, he couldn’t quite catch Gary Woodlands and ended up in a tie for fifth place.

But the loudest cheer of the week from the 37,000-strong gallery around the signature hole, the par 3 16th, was for Phil when he holed his birdie putt from 30 feet in the final round.

That shows just how popular a guy he is with the fans on Tour.

Admittedly, he was on home soil in a sense, being a graduate of Arizona State University.

But Mickelson enjoys the adulation of fans across America, not just in his own back yard.

He smiles a lot, never refuses to sign an autograph and plays the kind of sometimes-wayward-offthe-tee game most people can empathise with.

Of course, he makes up for that with the sort of exquisite short game and never-say-die attitude that many Tour professionals – never mind club players – would kill for.

That’s why Phil is being talked about as a legitimate contender to finally claim that elusive US Open title – and a longed-for Grand Slam – at Shinnecock Hills in June.

He will know himself that the clock is running down on his dream of joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods amongst golf’s immortals.

It’s an incredibly exclusive club, and nobody gets a membership without putting the work in.

That’s why Phil maintains his punishing week-in, week-out schedule on Tour.

He missed last year’s US Open in order to attend his daughter’s high school commencement – a move that won him plenty of admiration.

This year there will be no clashes, and, on a course he likes – and where he finished runner-up to Retief Goosen back in 2004 – he has a real chance.

Given his advancing years, it may be his last.

But if Phil pulls a rabbit out of the hat to become just the sixth player in history to win every Major, all the work will have been worth it.