Phil Mickelson, America’s second best golfer (Part 2)
Just before the 2004 Ryder Cup. Mickelson ended his contract with the Titleist/Acushnet Golf Company when a voice message he left for Callaway Golf executive was discovered. Both these companies are of golf equipment and when the message thanking and praising
the company for equipment it gave to his brother was made public, Phil was really put in the spotlight.
He was criticised for having done this blunder so near the Ryder Cup and with Titleist ending their contract, Phil then signed on with Callaway Golf. In the 2004 Ryder Cup, Phil didn’t perform to the best of his ability. Even with all the controversy and
the media about equipment change, Phil refused to accuse the sudden change of equipment for his performance.
Mickelson’s second major championship came at Baltusrol, when he won the 2005 PGA Championship. On the 18th hole, Phil hit one of his famous soft pitches from a deep greenside rough to within a foot and a half of the cup. After that, he carded
a birdie to finish with a 4 under total of 276, one stroke ahead of Thomas Bjorn and Steve Elkington.
His third major championship win came in the 2006 Masters where Mickelson got his second green jacket and won two hits ahead of Tim Clark. Due to this victory, Phil was hoisted to World Number two. This meant he was one spot behind Woods and ahead of Retief
Goosen and Vijay Singh.
Phil Mickelson also played in the 2006 U.S Open at Winged foot. During that tournament, he was part of a wild finish in which he tied for second place. He was one shot behind Geoff Ogilvy. During the game, on the 71st hole, Phil had a lead of
three.
Unfortunately, Lefty missed the fairway to the left and the ball ended in a trash can. Even though he parred the next hole, the previous hole that was bogeyed reduced his lead. Having only one chance left, Phil needed par for a victory. Trying his luck a
couple of times, the ball didn’t drive the way Phil wanted it to and thus he wasn’t successful in this open. This defeat cost him a chance to have three consecutive professional major victories. Until now, only Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan have had that honour.
In 2006, during the Ford Championship, Mickelson had to lose money as well. One of his shots went all the way into the audience and broke a man’s watch. Lefty paid $200 for damages. Mickelson has shown other acts of altruism. When in 2007, the NFL player
Conrad Dobler was suffering economically, Phil agreed to pay tuition for Conrad’s daughter Holli at the Miami University in Ohio.
Where he was being generous at one instant, Lefty also had to be on top of his game, and, be a good golfer along and a good human being. Having not done so well in his driving accuracy, Mickelson decided to leave his coach Rick Smith. Right now, Mickelson
is working with Butch Harmon, who also used to coach Tiger Woods before.
On May 13, 2007, Phil came from a stroke back on the final round and carded a three under 69 to win The Players Championship. Again in 2007, Mickelson was on a roll when he won the 2007 U.S Open at Oakmont. It was also in 2007 that Lefty won the Deutsche
Bank Championship and it was also during this FedEx Cup that Mickelson and Woods were paired together. His victories in 2009 include the Northern trust Open, World Golf Championship and the WGC-CA Championship.
However, 2009 wasn’t such a good year for the golf star since both this mother and his wife were diagnosed with breast cancer. His wife is undergoing treatment and hopefully will recover. 2009 did bring some good news when Mickelson was victorious in The
Tour and The HSBC Championship.
This was the basic history of the great golfer. His list of accomplishments is too infinite to list. 2010 is yet another good year for Mickelson. Currently, Mickelson is playing in the Ryder Cup in Wales and is hoping to make the Americans proud.
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