Winning Over 50
Phil Mickelson’s victory in the PGA Championship, at the age of 50, was more than a recordbreaking performance on a golf course. As Robin Barwick writes, the “Awe on the Shore” serves as a reminder that we can all achieve great things in middle-age
Phil Mickelson and proof that age ain’t nothin’ but a number—mostly
EEARLY IN PHIL MICKELSON’S FINAL ROUND at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, he almost let logic dictate proceedings. Mickelson was 50, he hadn’t won on tour in two years, his game was supposed to be erratic—past its sell-by date—and yet he was contending on the longest golf course in the history of the majors, with the Ocean Course measuring 7,876 yards.
This year’s PGA was supposed to be dominated by the younger, longer bombers; Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm.
Mickelson is no shortie. At the time of writing, after the U.S. Open, he is ranked 42nd on the PGA Tour in driving distance, with an average of 303.5 yards off the tee. His ball still reaches orbit, but on average Mickelson is 20 yards shorter than leading distance-provider DeChambeau, which makes a big difference on club selection for second shots— nevermind bragging rights.
Yet on the Sunday at Kiawah Island in May, Mickelson went mano v. mano in the final pairing with Koepka—aged 31 and almost 20 years younger than his playing partner— who has made the PGA Championship and U.S. Open his special subjects over the past four years, winning each title twice.
Despite a casual presence on course, Mickelson trains hard and looks after himself
Mickelson held a one-shot lead on the first tee of the final round, yet a bogey-birdie swing promptly handed a one-stroke advantage to Koepka as they exited the first green. Finally, reality had caught up with fantasy. World order was restored. The golf course is all but four and a half miles long for goodness’ sake. Someone show some respect for the elderly and get Phil a cart!
But Mickelson has been a short-game wizard since before Koepka was born. The old guy in his aviator glasses holed out from a greenside bunker on the fifth with a high, looping recovery shot. A true beauty. The gallery roared—this was the moment of ignition for which they had desperately hoped—while Koepka could not even appreciate how cool Mickelson looked in his glasses. Koepka was born six years after Top Gun came out in 1986, so he couldn’t know; he is too young.
That bunker shot was the turning point of the final round. Instead of trying to steer the ball around, trying to stay out of trouble, Mickelson loosened up, he started swinging the club with greater conviction. Mickelson closed with a brave 73, one over par, to win by two shots.
“I have been saying for 10, 12 years that I am convinced a senior will win a major championship,” states Bernhard
Langer, who at 63 years old remains the man to beat on the PGA Tour Champions, for over-50s. “I can see how good these guys are on the Champions Tour. It took until this year for Phil to win a major aged 50 but it will happen again down the road.
“The bad thing in a way is that length has become so important nowadays. They turn par fives into par fours because of the amazing distances these young guys are hitting the ball, but some seniors, like Mickelson, still hit the ball extremely far.”
At 24, Collin Morikawa was the defending champion going into the 2021 PGA Championship. “To see Phil wanting to keep getting better, wanting to learn, I hope when I hit that age I’m still trying to do that,” said Morikawa, who was born 11 years after Top Gun’s release.
Tiger Woods Tweeted that Mickelson’s win was “truly inspirational”.
At the age of 50, Mickelson maintains enviable flexibility, which is key to gaining such distance off the tee. He still manages a very full shoulder turn in his backswing and delivers his clubhead on a long, accelerating journey from the top of his swing to a clubhead speed of 120mph by the time it meets the golf ball. That flexibility comes partly from his natural physicality and partly from exercise.
Despite sometimes giving the impression that he is cruising along and out there just for the fun, just while it lasts, the truth is that Mickelson is going to great lengths to extend his career at the highest level. He eats less than he used to, he eats less meat than he used to, opts for occasional spells of fasting to re-set his digestive system and favors a special blend of Ethiopian coffee mixed with coconut oil.
Mickelson regularly meditates to give himself a kind of mental cleansing, and on the golf course he has brought breathing control into his pre-shot routine. Then on the practice ground and in the gym, Mickelson is unafraid to embrace new technology. He and coach Andrew Gilbert scientifically analyse every characteristic of Mickelson’s shots. With such a deft short game, Mickelson was always a “feel” player more than “method”; now he is both.
“The deal is that I’ve worked harder,” reflected Mickelson after the sixth major victory of his career was secured, eight years after his fifth major title at The Open in 2013. “I just had to work harder physically to be able to practice as long as I wanted to, and I’ve had to work a lot harder to be able to maintain focus throughout a round. That’s been the biggest challenge of late.”
The key to Mickelson’s longevity is not in the magic coffee beans. They might be one healthy contributing factor, but the big picture is more prosaic; it boils down to hard graft, attention to detail, routine and discipline. Behind those shades, Mickelson is no longer the “Maverick” that some people think.
“My desire to play is the same,” he adds. “I’ve always been intrinsically motivated because I love to compete, I love playing the game. I love having opportunities to play against the best at the highest level. The belief that I could still do it inspired me to work harder. I just didn’t see why it couldn’t be done but it took a little bit more effort.”
Mickelson could swap notes with Tom Brady, the 43-year-old NFL quarterback who has won a staggering seven Super Bowls and who is notoriously fastidious about his diet and fitness regime. You can’t knock it; Brady, a reigning Super Bowl champ with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is older than some of the parents of his fellow NFL players.
Steve Loy knows Mickelson better than most, as the golfer’s one-time coach, then caddie, then long-serving business manager.
“Phil thinks he’s 25 years old again,” joked Loy at Kiawah Island. “I mean, he’s healthier than he’s ever been. I think he’s going to win five more times, maybe 10. You can’t tell him ‘no.’ Every time I try to tell him, ‘Look, we are running out of time,’ he’s going, ‘I don’t want to hear it.’”
As for the young buck Koepka, already a four-time major champ, he knew he did not putt well enough at Kiawah, but he could see the enormity of what his playing partner achieved and he was gracious in defeat.
“I’m super happy for Phil,” said Koepka. “It gives me hope that, you know, I hope I’m still playing at 50. But to come out and compete and actually win, that’s another thing. So kudos to him, it was really cool to see.”
Added Mickelson: “There’s no reason why golf can’t be the game for a lifetime. If you take care of your body and do it the right way, and now with the exercise physiology and technology that’s out there, you can work out the right way to get your body to function right and play golf for a lifetime.
“I hope this inspires some to just put in that little extra work, because there’s no reason why you can’t accomplish your goals at an older age. It just takes a little more work.”
What Mickelson achieved at Kiawah Island should serve as an inspiration, not just to his fellow competitors on tour, not just to middle-aged golfers feeling more aches and pains than they used to, but to all people as they reach or contemplate middle age. Mickelson has proved there is still time to raise the bar, to turn bold ambitions into reality.