Talk of the Tour: Full-Phil-ment at Muirfield
Bobby Jones famously observed that there is golf and there is tournament golf, and the two do not resemble each other. On yet another level is major championship golf. If you love golf in its highest expression, then you have to marvel at what Phil Mickelson accomplished at Muirfield in the 142nd Open Championship.
Mickelson cemented his spot among the game’s all-time greats with a sterling 66 in the final round on Sunday. Starting the day five shots off the lead, Mickelson’s championship roll capped off one of the greatest displays of 72-hole game management in golf history.
Recreational players like us view the game in 18-hole increments, but championship golf is a 72-hole marathon. There is so much more to it than the basic golf skills (which most of the field has in spades). There is physical conditioning and the ability to focus. More than that, though, there is the emotional patience.
At Muirfield, Mickelson saw by Friday that par was going to be a very good score. He didn’t press. He hovered, and he continued to hover while the leaders had to grind our par after par to stay on the board. Then, when the pressure began to wear on the leaders and cracked open the door of opportunity, he was ready to turn on the fabled Mickelson aggression and bust through.
Jack Nicklaus remains the best of all time at managing the 72-hole major marathon. Tiger Woods remains the best at holding his game to highest level over that same 72-hole gauntlet. Phil Mickelson has just reminded us that talent alone rarely holds up for four championship rounds. It takes something inside.
He dug down last week and found it, and he is truly the Champion Golfer of the Year.
