Phil Mickelson made history at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, as Lefty secured the sixth major title of his illustrious career following a duel on Sunday with Brooks Koepka.
It had been more than eight years since Phil Mickelson won his fifth major title. In fact, Mickelson went more than half a decade without winning on the PGA Tour after winning The Open Championship in 2013. So he may have assumed that his days of winning the sport’s biggest prizes may have gone.
However, Mickelson ended up becoming the oldest major champion in history in 2021 as he finished two shots clear of both Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen in South Carolina. He was less than a month shy of his 51st birthday.
It does appear that elite golfers are peaking at a much younger age. No-one on the 2023 US Ryder Cup team was over the age of 36, while Lexi Thompson retired from full-time competition on the LPGA Tour this year at the age of just 29.
How Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka reacted as Phil Mickelson won his sixth major title
That makes Mickelson’s achievement all the more remarkable. And as he headed for victory at Kiawah Island, the likes of Rory McIlroy, Koepka and Collin Morikawa were asked about Mickelson’s performance as well as the prospects of themselves continuing to play at a similar level at the same age.
“Yeah, if I fast-forward 20 years, I can see it, and I can certainly see it with someone like Phil who feeds off the energy of the crowd and gets going. I mean, that front nine he played yesterday was flawless. He played really, really well.
“But yeah, I don’t know what 20 years down the line is going to look like for me, but hopefully I’m in Phil’s position and still contending in these things,” McIlroy said.
“Got to have two good knees first,” Koepka suggested.
“But yeah, it’s cool. I’m super happy for Phil. Like I said, it gives you hope that you can – or it gives me hope that, you know, I mean, I hope I’m still playing at 50, but to be able to come out and compete and actually win, that’s a whole another thing. So kudos to him but it was really cool to see.”
“It would be amazing. This is a guy I’ve watched my entire life, and to see him actually go out and contend, lead and come out today trying to win this championship, it’s amazing. It just shows kind of the longevity of Phil and his career,” Morikawa said.
“To see what he’s doing, he’s 50, 51, something like that, I mean, that’s amazing. And to see him just wanting to keep getting better, wanting to learn, I hope when I hit that age I’m still trying to do that, trying to get better. You can just see it in his eyes that he wants to win, and nothing is really stopping him.”
Whether McIlroy or Koepka could have the same longevity as Mickelson
Certainly, McIlroy appears to have the game to rival Mickelson’s longevity. The Northern Irishman has recently won his sixth Order of Merit title on the European Tour, while he has registered at least one top 10 in the majors in every year since 2009.
Of course, Koepka is one of the most intriguing players in the current game. He is not someone who wins week-in, week-out, but he has managed to find a formula which allows him to peak for the majors. And thus, he is the current player with the most majors after Tiger Woods and Mickelson.
And just when it appeared that his powers were on the wane, he went and won the 2023 PGA Championship for his fifth major. So it is always dangerous to write Koepka off.
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