Fellow professionals dish as Lefty turns 50
He’s a comedian with a lightningquick, razor-sharp needle.
A man with a golf IQ that’s off the charts, a wannabe Albert Einstein who at times thinks he’s Google. Has a generous heart, a desire to mentor, an enormous appetite for life and the finest foods and wine.
He is a massive presence and possesses a mammoth charitable arm. Loves games of chance and fears no man or bad lie or any tree between him and his intended target.
And Phil Mickelson is one of the best golfers who has walked the planet.
That’s what Lefty’s colleagues said about the man who turns 50 on Tuesday. They shared their favorite memories of the man who continues to hit bombs and has a plaque in the World Golf Hall of Fame, three green jackets, a Wanamaker Trophy, a Claret Jug, a record six silver medals from the U.S. Open and 44 PGA Tour titles.
In short, it’s been a half-century of laughs, wonderment, fulfillment and excitement. Mickelson’s lived large, played large and certainly been a large presence in the game he started playing by mirroring his father with left-handed swings despite being a natural righty.
And he’ll continue to make us all wonder what Phil will do next.
“He’s really just a goofball. One of the greatest players ever, but still a goofball,” said Harris English, who pointed to a moment during The Match II as an example that encapsulates Mickelson. On the third hole, Mickelson was chirping about activating his calves and begging Tiger Woods for an advantage ahead of the long-drive contest. Woods turned to the camera, smiled and told the viewing audience “this is what I have to listen to every time we play.”
“That’s Phil,” English said. “He is who he is. Always talking, always having fun, always on the ready. He is very personable. A great guy to talk to. You can ask him about anything and he’s never going to short-change anybody. His heart and his mind is in everything he does. He’s just a great guy to be around.
“He’s a lot of fun and he’s been great for this game.”
While Mickelson usually takes over any room he walks into with non-stop jokes and stories, he can have an impact without saying a word. At the 2016 PGA Championship, Ryan Palmer said he told Mickelson that his wife, Jennifer,
Gary Woodland
had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Mickelson’s wife, Amy, and mother, Mary, are both breast cancer survivors.
“I pulled Phil aside in the scoring tent and I told him and I wanted to ask him a few things,” said Palmer, whose wife beat cancer. “He didn’t say a word and he just gave me the biggest hug. For a long time, he didn’t say a word. Then we chatted.
“I’ll never forget that moment.” Here are some more stories and memories from his PGA Tour brethren.
Steve Stricker
“One of the funniest things I’ve always remembered was one year we were in an In-N-Out in the Palm Springs area and I was with Mario, my brotherin-law, and we had already sat down to eat. And Phil and Bones came in, they ordered and they came to sit with us. And Phil gets his food and comes over and he has two triples, no fries. Two triples. Not doubles, triples. They were huge. And this obviously was before he started taking care of himself more. And he sat down and had this big grin on his face and he’s just like, ‘What? What’s the big deal?’ And he pounds both of them.”
“I was with Callaway in 2015 playing the final round of the BMW Championship at Conway Farms with him. Callaway had a new prototype golf ball, and I was in love with it. Now, I was a big George Brett fan when I was growing up, so my baseball number as a kid was No. 5. And when I started testing this golf ball they were all Callaway 5s. And I’m thinking this is sweet, they made me a golf ball with a 5 on it.
“So I’m playing with Phil on Sunday and we get on the first tee and we both have Callaway 5 balls. So I go, ‘Why do you have Callaway 5? They made this golf ball for me.’ He goes, ‘I have 5 major championships, idiot, they made it for me.’ I felt so small. I heard later on that that wasn’t the case, that they didn’t go with 5 because of him, but he came up with it on the spot and he made me believe it. That’s the beauty of Phil Mickelson – he’s not afraid to dish it out, and he can take it. He’s pretty witty and he always has the answers.”
Charley Hoffman
“When I was 9 years old I was at a San Diego junior golf banquet, and he was this 16-year-old player of the year and he was the kid that gave the speech. And we all knew who he was. And he was the same guy you know now back then, rattling off jokes he thought were funny and he would laugh at himself more than anyone else would laugh and he hasn’t changed one iota since then. Phil is funny. It’s a quirky funny. But he knows he’s quirky. He likes laughing at his own jokes more than people are laughing at his jokes.
“And the thing I admire the most about Phil is his work ethic. He plays more golf than anybody. And he wants to win everything no matter what it is. But his worth ethic is off the charts. If I was nearly 50 and I’ve won this many majors and all those Tour wins and have millions of dollars, would I be working this hard on an off week? I don’t think the answer would be yes, but I work harder because I see his work ethic. It is second to none.”
Jim Furyk
“When I was younger, and even through college, I think Phil has always enjoyed pulling the wool over your eyes or trying to get one past you or making up a story to see if you will believe him. Sometimes they’re true, sometimes they’re not. I’ve called his bluff before and caught him, and I’ve called his bluff and been wrong. Now he’s kind of like the boy who called wolf a lot, everyone is looking for it . ... “He definitely has a sense of humor, which is what I’ve enjoyed the most. We’ve been in team rooms, and he knows how to keep guys loose. He knows how to say the right thing at the right time.”
Zach Johnson
“There only were a few guys when I came out on Tour where you got caught up watching. The obvious one was you know who (for those of you who don’t, that would be Tiger Woods). Phil was one of the guys. Vijay Singh because he was winning so much. Ernie Els, too. Phil had this aura about him where you were just going to watch. I remember his hands being ridiculous and they still are. I played with him a lot but one that sticks out was when I played with him at Sugarloaf and then he won the Masters the next week (in 2006). I was in the last group on Sunday. I tied for second, was 15 under and I lost by 13 shots to Phil. That says it all. It was one of the most impressive things I’ve seen in golf.”