Phil Mickelson

He is married to Amy McBride. Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, which made Phil suspend his ‘PGA Tour’ schedule indefinitely. They have three children, Amanda, Sophia, and Evan. He returned to play after a month when the doctors assured him that the cancer was detected at an early stage and could be treated. However, he took leave from golf again for his mother’s treatment for breast cancer at the same hospital.

He has always placed his family first when it came to odds with professional golf. He has always remained close to his parents and shared his success with them.

He was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in 2010, for which he had to undergo medical treatment. He also became a vegetarian to help him battle the disease. He also went through two hernia surgeries in 2016, but continued with his golf career.

Phil Alfred Mickelson, nicknamed Lefty, was born on June 16, 1970, in San Diego, California, US, to Philip and Mary Mickelson. His father was a Navy fighter-jet pilot who later flew commercial airlines. He was raised in San Diego and Scottsdale, Arizona.

As a young boy, he learnt golf from his father, who took him out to play twice or thrice a week. Though he was a right-handed child, he played the sport left-handed, mirroring his father in their backyard. His parents encouraged him to pick up golf by using his father’s airline job to help him compete in various tournaments, and his mother pitched in with the expenses by taking up a job.

He completed his high school from the ‘University of San Diego High School’ in 1988 and went on to study psychology at the ‘Arizona State University’ in Tempe, on a golf scholarship. He started playing amateur golf as a teen and won three ‘NCAA’ championships and three ‘Haskins Awards’ to become the face of amateur golf in the US by 1992. He matched Ben Crenshaw’s record in individual ‘NCAA’ championships and won 16 tournaments during his college days.

He was the first left-handed golfer to have won the ‘US Amateur’ title and the second collegiate golfer to have won the ‘All American Amateur’ title for four years in a row.

His biggest achievement as an amateur was his first ‘PGA Tour’-event win in 1991, at the age of 20. His college coach, Steve Loy, was his caddy that day and later became his business manager and guide. To date, he is the fourth and last amateur to have won a ‘PGA Tour.’ He played a few other professional tour events as an amateur but failed to repeat his performance. He graduated from the ‘Arizona State University’ in 1992 and took up professional golf.

Mickelson was exempted from the qualification process for professional golf due to his ‘PGA Tour’ win in 1991, which was valid for two years. He hired Jim “Bones” Mackay as his caddy in 1992 and played a number of ‘PGA’ tours in the coming years. He won many of such events, including the ‘World Series of Golf’ (1996), the ‘Colonial National Invitation’ (2000), and the ‘Greater Hartford Open’ (2001 and 2002).

In 2000, he ended Tiger Wood’s winning streak of six consecutive triumphs on the ‘PGA’ tour, by clinching the ‘Buick Invitational.’ However, he had never won a major yet and was labeled as the “best player never to win a major,” in golf circles during that period.

He finally managed to get over the jinx of majors in 2004, when he won the 68th ‘Masters Tournament’ at the ‘Augusta National Golf Club’ in Georgia at the age of 33. He became the third left-handed golfer to win a ‘Masters Tournament’ in the history of golf.

His ‘Masters’ win was followed by an all-time career low till he picked up his second major title at the ‘PGA Championship’ at Baltusrol, in 2005. He ranked second on the ‘Official World Golf Ranking’ list in 2007, after winning the ‘Masters’ in 2006, his third major title. This was the highest ranking of his career.

He was in the run to join Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan to be the only players to win three majors in a row, but his performance dropped at the ‘US Open’ at Winged Foot, in 2006, where he finished in a tie for the second place, one stroke behind Geoff Ogilvy.

Besides scoring eight amateur wins, Phil Mickelson has won five ‘Major’ championships, one ‘Players’ championship, one ‘World Golf’ championship, three ‘Tour Champ’/‘FedEx Cup’ events, and 32 other ‘PGA’ titles.

He also has nine ‘European Tour’ wins that include five ‘Major’ championships, two ‘World Golf’ championships and two other ‘European Tour’ titles.

He was the recipient of the 1996 ‘Golf Digest Byron Nelson Award’ and two 2004 ‘ESPY’ awards for the best male golfer and the best championship performance.

He was included in the ‘National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame’ in 2008.