The major championship which Phil Mickelson had to completely transform his own game to win, it was his ‘greatest accomplishment’

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Phil Mickelson is probably the greatest golfer of the 21st century outside of the undisputed first place, Tiger Woods.

Mickelson’s reputation took a hit with his move to LIV Golf in 2022 but those who watched him in his prime still have nothing but respect for his golf game.

He won six major championships, including three Masters Tournaments, and his short-game wizardry is unlike any other player.

The Golfing Gazette looks at which of ‘Lefty’s’ major wins was the most impressive by his own account.

• READ MORE: How the PGA Tour feel about allowing Phil Mickelson back from LIV Golf after his latest comments on Scottie Scheffler

Phil Mickelson named one major win his ‘greatest achievement’

In an episode of the popular golf talk show Feherty in 2017, Mickelson explained that one of his wins was different to all of the others.

The victory in question was the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland, where he won by three shots to Henrik Stenson.

Mickelson was five shots behind 54-hole leader Lee Westwood before one of his finest performances in the final round on Sunday.

The 54-year-old shot a 66 (-5) to go to three-under for the tournament – the only player to be under par in the entire field.

“The 2004 Masters will always be my most important as it was my first major and winning the Masters as an American puts you in that history,” he told David Feherty.

“But the greatest accomplishment in my career was winning the Open. My game was never suited to that. I liked hitting it high with spin. I would go out and play and I didn’t care where the pin was, I was trying to back it up 60 feet because I thought that was cool!

“A lot of times you would come off the green and I would make bogeys and I didn’t care, I just wanted to watch that ball sauce. That was the coolest thing. I ended up not really having the game for it and when I came out on tour I wasn’t suited to play links golf.

“To ultimately win that tournament was the greatest feeling of accomplishment for me because I learned and became successful at a totally different style of play to what I had grown up playing.”

How Phil Mickelson’s Open Championship results changed over time

Mickelson has participated in 30 Open Championships and there is an obvious trend in his results over the years.

In his first 10 appearances, his best finish was tied-11th and not once did he finish inside the top 10 – an aberration for a player of his quality.

However, in the following 10, he achieved three top-10 finishes, of course including his incredible victory in 2013.

Mickelson has not played so well in the 10 most recent Opens but that probably has more to do with the steady decline in his ability than anything specific to the tournament.