In part, the fall of Phil Mickelson -52 years old- in recent months in the world ranking would have been the most natural thing. However, ‘Lefty’ won the 2021 PGA Championship when nobody had him on their radar anymore, so this fall was going to be prolonged over time much longer than expected, even more so if he managed to rebound from time to time at some point.
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Phil Mickelson, statements
The San Diego golfer already alternated with the senior circuit, but he won a ‘major’ and also still competed regularly in PGA Tour events. But then a competitive break came after some comments about Saudi Arabia, his break with the PGA and his move to LIV Golf, which caused him to plummet in the world ranking, since he only played the US Open and the British as scoring tournaments since then, and it didn’t make the cut on any of them.
The consequence is that in this month of December Phil has fallen below position 200 in the ranking and this week he starts it in position 213. In conclusion, the winner of nine ‘majors’ has left the ‘top 200’ after something more than 30 years.
The last time Mickelson had been outside of these positions was before the New England Classic in late July 1992, in which he finished second. Already in March ‘Lefty’ fell out of the ‘top 100’, something that had not happened since 1993.
Philip Alfred Mickelson (known as Lefty for his left-handed swing even though he is right-handed in everyday life) (San Diego, June 16, 1970) is an American golfer. He is one of the best players of his generation and has won six major tournaments: the Masters three times (in 2004, 2006 and 2010), the PGA Championship twice (in 2005 and 2021) and The Open Championship once in the edition of the 2013.
He is one of 13 players in golf history to have won at least 3 of 4 majors and has also finished as runners-up in the US Open Championship six times without ever managing to win this tournament. With his victory in his second PGA Championship on May 23, 2021, he became, at 50 years, 11 months and 8 days, the oldest player to win the record in one of the four major tournaments.
The exceptional performance on the Kiawah Island course – where he beat his compatriot Bruce Koepka and the South African Louis Oosthuizen, twenty years younger after an exciting three-way duel – came eight years after his last major win in the 2013.
Mickelson, who had gradually slipped beyond the hundredth position in the world rankings, has thus risen suddenly to number 32. During his almost thirty-year career he was for over 700 weeks in the top 10 in the world according to the Official World Golf Ranking, arriving on several occasions to occupy the second place, but never the first, in a period dominated by Tiger Woods, of which Michelson was one of the few rivals able to put him in trouble.
