The tournament Phil Mickelson would have retired from golf at if he’d won before even joining LIV

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Phil Mickelson is undoubtedly one of the greatest golfers to ever play the sport.

There isn’t much the lefty hasn’t achieved in golf. He’s won 45 times on the PGA Tour, went head-to-head with Tiger Woods and won, and took victory at major championships six times. 

Phil Mickelson is the oldest major winner ever after winning the 2021 PGA Championship at 50 years old. He continues to show unprecedented longevity, finishing 24th in the LIV Golf individual standings last year. 

But he once admitted that he would retire if he claimed victory at one tournament he is still yet to win.

Phil Mickelson said he would retire after winning the US Open

It seemed for years that the major Mickelson would never win was The Open Championship. It was consistently his weakest event, as the changing conditions and difference of course layout from the PGA Tour didn’t suit his game. 

But with the help of Butch Harmon, Mickelson changed his game to win the 2013 Open Championship, which the American called his “greatest accomplishment”. 

That means one major stands between Mickelson and the career Grand Slam. The U.S. Open. And he said in 2022 that he would retire after winning the tournament. 

He told Golf Digest, “If I win the U.S. Open, I will retire. That would be my last tournament. I will have achieved the career Grand Slam, and I won’t have anything more to prove.”

Mickelson almost won the U.S. Open in 2006 at Winged Foot. He led into the final hole, but made a series of costly errors to throw it away. 

20 years later, and it’s a loss that may still haunt Mickelson for the rest of his career.

Golfers who can win the career Grand Slam in 2026 

Mickelson has been attempting to win the career Grand Slam for 12 years, and he’s part of a short list of players who could achieve this rare feat in 2026. 

Jordan Spieth won The Open Championship in 2017, his third different major, meaning he is a PGA Championship win away from becoming the seventeenth man to win all four majors. 

And Scottie Scheffler’s dominance in 2025 catapulted him into this conversation. If he wins the US Open in 2026, he’d have claimed all four, winning three different majors in two seasons to put himself among the greatest names in the sport’s history. 

Scheffler looks nailed on to accomplish this within the next few seasons, but Rory McIlroy won the Masters after an 11-year wait to complete the career Grand Slam, so never say never for Mickelson and Spieth!