Phil Mickelson: One of The Most Creative Player in The History of Golf

The emphasis since Phil Mickelson won the Masters on Sunday has, quite rightly, been on his family story and the difficulties of the last year, since his wife, Amy, and mother, Mary, were diagnosed with breast cancer.

Now it’s time to evaluate Mickelson as a golfer and a golfer only.

Mickelson has won 38 PGA Tour events. His record includes three Masters and one PGA Championship. He’ll turn 40 June 16th, the day before the U.S. Open begins at the Pebble Beach Golf Links in Pebble Beach, Calif.

Mickelson is halfway to a career Grand Slam, and so he’ll need to win a U.S. Open and an Open Championship to be considered an all-time great. Only five players, after all, have won the modern Grand Slam of the Masters, U.S. Open, Open Championship and PGA Championship. The group includes Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

It should not be forgotten that Bobby Jones won the Grand Slam of his era, as authentic a Slam as the modern one. That Grand Slam included the U.S. Open and Amateur, and the Open and [British] Amateur Championships.

Mickelson is one of the most creative golfers in the history of the game. It’s almost as enjoyable watching Mickelson practice as it is watching him play. He derives so much joy from the game, and he shows it.

Last Sunday, with the tournament on the line, Mickelson again demonstrated his creativity and imagination. He had driven into the trees right of the fairway on the par-five 13th hole. His ball was sitting on pine needles. Mickelson had a narrow gap between trees a few feet ahead, and he had 207 yards to the hole that was cut on the front of the green, and just beyond the stream.

The situation was perilous. Mickelson has always been a gambler, and it’s often hurt him.

He took a one-shot lead to the last hole of the 2006 U.S. Open at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y., and pushed his drive into the trees. Rather than playing back to the fairway and trying to win with his strong wedge play and a par putt, or, at the worst, make bogey and get into a playoff, Mickelson went for the gold medal. But his dangerous shot rattled around in the trees. He double-bogeyed the hole and Geoff Ogilvy won.

“I am such an idiot,” Mickelson said soon after. His play was foolish in retrospect, but that’s the analysis with the benefit of hindsight. Mickelson was playing to win with one big shot.

He wasn’t facing the exact situation on the 13th Sunday at the Masters, because he still had five holes to play once the 13th was done. He would have had to go through the same opening to lay up short of the creek, and he told his long-time caddy, Jim Mackay, that it was merely a matter of executing the shot.

Mickelson had the same yardage for his second shot on the 13th in the first round Thursday, from the fairway. He hit a 6-iron 30 feet from the hole and made the putt for an eagle on his way to a 67 to start the tournament.

He chose the same club Sunday. The ball was sitting nicely. He wasn’t afraid of catching the pine needles before impact and hitting a puffball of a shot. He made his swing and the ball finished four feet from the hole. He missed the eagle putt, but the shot charged him up and he went on to win by three strokes over Lee Westwood.

It’s impossible to know whether that shot, and Mickelson’s win, will provide him the confidence to bring his best game to Pebble Beach and then to the Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland in July at the Open.

He said early on at the Masters, and after he won, that he relaxes there because the course doesn’t have many hazards, and so he can miss some shots and recover with his magical short game.

Mickelson will need to find a similar level of relaxation and freedom to win a U.S. Open and an Open Championship, and complete the career Grand Slam.

He’ll have to play more precise golf because the penalties for errant shots are greater at Pebble Beach and the Old Course than at Augusta National. Finding a pot bunker at the Old Course is often equivalent to hitting into a water hazard elsewhere. The U.S. Open is two months away. I can’t wait to see how it plays out, especially now that Woods has filed his entry, and now that Mickelson has won another major.