A testament to being in condition — that’s what the Phil Mickelson PGA championship a week ago means to golf fans.

Throughout most of his professional career, Phil has appeared to be a talented golfer who was soft physically and willing to gamble away tournament championships by attempting to hit spectacular shots. He was entertaining, but inconsistent much of the time.

A few years back, he took a new approach to golf in terms of training. He exercised regularly, and reduced the number of chances he took on the course. That did not result in tournament championships until May 23, when he captured his sixth major, the PGA on the testing Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, S.C.

“It goes to show that when a great player gets into shape, it pays dividends,” said Randy Hodsdon, tournament director of the Maine State Golf Association. “Sure, he still can hit long drives at his age, but because he is in shape, he can contend. He might just be able to win some more tournaments.”

At age 50, Mickelson startled the PGA tournament world by winning a major tournament, something that never had been done before. The oldest champion of a PGA major tournament previously was Julius Boros at age 46, with Jack Nicklaus right behind him, also at 46.

In this era of great young players, many of whom are in their 20s, there seemed to be no room at the top for older golfers, particularly those of whom were past 50 years old. Mickelson, who is one of a few left-handed players on the PGA Tour, apparently did not get that memo.

Bob Darling, former head pro and current teaching pro at Fox Ridge, marveled at Mickelson’s ability to hit the ball so far at his age, and he added: “Whatever he was chewing, I want a whole bunch of it.”

That chew reportedly is CBD gum.

In case you missed it, the PGA Tour and Capital One have announced another partners’ match for July 6 at 5 p.m. on TNT. Mickelson and Tom Brady will be playing against Bryson DeChambeau and Aaron Rodgers at The Reserve at Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana. It will mark the second time that Mickelson and Brady have been teammates in a Capital One match.

Facts you may or may not know about Mickelson:

• He has earned more than $900 million as a pro golfer.

• While he had not won a tournament in several starts until capturing the PGA, he had another streak of not winning a tournament from 2013 to 2018.

• Four left-handed golfers have won the PGA — Australian Bob Charles, Canadian Mike Weir, Bubba Watson (two) and Mickelson (three). Mickelson also won three NCAA championships while an undergraduate at Arizona State.

• The only major Mickelson has not won is the U.S. Open, in which he was runner-up six times.

*****

The Maine State Golf Association held a pair of championship events last week at Belgrade.
In the Open club championship May 23, the Martindale team of Brian Bilodeau, Kelly Cates, Roland Myers and Jace Pearson finished in a tie for sixth place at 6-under par (136).

On May 24, the Senior club championship was held, with the Martindale team of Stephen Gallagher, Russ Scudder, Bobby Myers and Roland Myers capturing a tie for first at 5-under (137). And a second Martindale foursome of Doug Craig, Neil Mayo, Bob Blanchette and Ron Blanchette finished in a tie for 10th at 3-over (145).

*****

The MSGA has a men’s play day June 1 at Waterville, along with two women’s play days on that date at Val Halla and Hermon Meadow. The annual men’s mid-amateur is June 4 at Brunswick.

Bill Kennedy, a retired New Jersey golf writer and editor now residing on Thompson Lake in Otisfield, is in his ninth season as the Sun Journal’s golf columnist.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Sports on TV: Saturday, May 29, 2021

Next »

Tiger Hopkins’ vision and high-scoring output keeps Oak Hill on a winning path