Phil Mickelson's Biography

Who is Phil Mickelson?

Golfer, Phil Mickelson was born on 16 June 1970 in San Diego, California. He studied psychology at Arizona State University.

After a highly impressive record as a junior and an amateur, Phil Mickelson turned pro as a golfer in 1992 and within a year gained USPGA tour wins in the Buick Open and the International.

Famous for being a 'lefty', Mickelson is actually right-handed in everything except golf.

Phil Mickelson has a fantastic short game with exceptional touch and is particularly strong in the majors.

In the twelve US majors before 2005 Phil Mickelson reached the top 3 an incredible seven times and won the 2004 US Masters. After a poor 2003, in 2004 Mickelson finished in the top 10 in all four majors. The only other player to do so was Ernie Els.

Phil Mickelson was rather oddly paired with Tiger Woods in the 2004 Ryder Cup.

An important element in Phil Mickelson's success has been his caddie, 'Bones' aka Jim Mackay. He has been with Phil Mickelson since 1992.

In August 2005 Mickelson won the USPGA to add another major to the 2004 US Masters. Strangely before the USPGA Mickelson's performances in the majors in 2005 had been relatively poor, in spite of having sufficient form to win three times on the PGA Tour.

In 2006 Mickelson won the 70th Masters by two shots at Augusta.

With that victory, Mickelson overtook Vijay Singh on the PGA Tour wins list.

In June 2006, Phil Mickelson had the chance to join Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan as the only players to win three consecutive major professional golf tournaments, but ended the US Open with a double bogey and lost his opportunity to Geoff Ogilvy. Instead, Mickelson was runner-up at the U.S. Open for the fourth time.

In February 2007, Phil Mickelson won his third Pebble Beach National Pro-Am title, in so doing he became only the fourth player in US golf tour history to win over $40m in career earnings.

In 2007, Phil Mickelson, who had worked with Rick Smith for most of his golfing career, decided to use Tiger Woods's former coach Butch Harmon instead.

In September 2007, Mickelson won his 32nd PGA Tour title, the Deutsche Bank Championship.

In February 2009, Phil Mickelson won the Northern Trust Open by one shot over Steve Stricker.

In September 2009, Phil Mickelson won the Tour Championship in Atlanta. It was his first win after a break mid-season, which he took after his wife Amy and his mother had both been diagnosed with cancer.

On 8 November 2009, Phil Mickelson beat Ernie Els by a shot to win the HSBC Champions tournament.

In March 2010 it transpired that Phil Mickelson would not be able to use his 20-year-old wedge after a deal between manufacturer Ping and the PGA Tour.

On 11 April 2010, Phil Mickelson won his third Masters and fourth major when he shot a final round 67 to end on 16 under, three shots clear of the second placed Lee Westwood.

On 20 June 2010, Mickelson came joint fourth with Tiger Woods in the US Open.

In August 2010 Phil Mickelson revealed that he was suffering from psoriatic arthritis.

In June 2013, Mickelson once again finished second in the US Open, having already done so in 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009.

On 14 July 2013, Mickelson won the Scottish Open after a play-off with Branden Grace.

The following week, Phil Mickelson went one better and won The Open itself. It was his fifth major victory.

In March 2018, Phil Mickelson won the WGC-Mexico Championship. It was his first victory since the 2013 Open.

In November 2018, Phil Mickelson beat Tiger Woods in a head-to-head match for $9m in Las Vegas.

In May 2021, Phil Mickelson became the oldest man to win a major title when he won the US PGA Championship.

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