Best of 2018: Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson hadn’t seen the PGA Tour winner’s circle since the 2013 Open at Muirfield, but Lefty shot a final-round 66 and made a par on the first extra hole to defeat Justin Thomas in a playoff at the WGC-Mexico Championship in March. The 47-year-old made two late birdies on Sunday and overcame Thomas’ 119-yard hole out for eagle on 18 to earn his 43rd career PGA Tour victory and first in four-and-a-half years.

PGA Tour rookie Shubhankar Sharma was excited to meet the “legend” Phil Mickelson during his debut on the circuit at the WGC-Mexico Championship. The feeling wasn’t exactly mutual. The 21-year-old from India, who was leading the event at the time, tried to introduce himself before Saturday’s third round, but the conversation got off to a rocky start when Mickelson mistook Sharma as media. “Me and my caddie went up to [Mickelson]. He thought we were media and he said, ‘Not right now, after the round,’' Sharma laughed. The duo patched things up and played together on Sunday.

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods buried the hatchet and seemed to become best buds in 2018, starting at the season’s first major. The longtime rivals surprised just about everyone in the golf world on Tuesday at the Masters, playing a practice round together for the first time in 20 years. The duo even teamed up, playing a match against Fred Couples and Thomas Pieters, and winning – by a lot. The practice round seemed to set the stage for plenty of Tiger and Phil moments throughout the year.

Phil Mickelson turned plenty of heads Tuesday at the Masters by wearing a long-sleeve, button-down shirt during his practice round with Tiger Woods, but he turned even more when the shirts went on sale to the public. Mickelson “danced” his way through Mizzen+Main’s first-ever TV commercial, and it was … something. The five-time major champ’s moves were so bad they were good, and that’s putting it nicely.

The U.S. Open course set up at sunbaked Shinnecock Hills got plenty of verbal complaints from players, but Phil Mickelson voiced his displeasure with his play - by intentionally hitting a moving ball on the 13th hole to prevent it from racing off the front of the green. Mickelson was docked two shots for the incident and defiantly stated afterward that he was just taking advantage of the rules and anyone offended by his actions needed to “toughen up.”

After some time to reflect on intentionally hitting a moving ball on the 13th hole at the U.S. Open and claiming he did it to take advantage of the rules, Phil Mickelson abruptly changed his tune. With several prominent members of the golf community - including some of his peers - calling for his disqualification from the event or worse, Mickelson apologized, saying, “It took me a few days to kind of let my anger and frustration of the whole thing subside to where I could see clearer that it wasn’t the greatest moment.”

Phil Mickelson has been a member of every Ryder Cup team since 1995, and he continued that streak in 2018, although he required a captain’s pick to do so. Mickelson joined Tiger Woods, Bryson DeChambeau and Tony Finau as the captain’s pick’s for Jim Furyk’s U.S. squad after a season in which the 48-year-old snapped a five-year winless drought with his WGC victory in Mexico and shot a closing 63 on Monday at the Dell Technologies Championship to tie for 12th.

Phil Mickelson may have made the U.S. Ryder Cup team in Paris as a captain’s pick, but his play once he got there was another story entirely. Mickelson only suited up for one team match – Friday afternoon’s foursomes where he and Bryson DeChambeau were crushed 5 and 4 by Sergio Garcia and Alex Noren – and then was benched until Sunday singles, where he lost to Francesco Molinari. The veteran who has been on every Ryder Cup team since 1995 earned zero points for Jim Furyk’s squad in defeat, and at one point was reduced to other team members (unsuccessfully) rubbing his belly for good luck.

Despite seemingly being a perfect match for the social-media platform, Phil Mickelson always eschewed Twitter, opting instead to save his one-liners for face-to-face interviews. That all changed in August when he sent out his first tweet – a GIF of himself of course. Mickelson and his new blue checkmark became an immediate must-follow, although he did admit his kids had their doubts. “They are nervous. They should be, you know, rightfully so, because in time, I will mess up. I always kind of ride the line somewhere. Sometimes I cross it. Sometimes not,” he said.

After months of build-up, reality TV shows and plenty of trash talk, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods squared off for $9 million in a pay-per-view match at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas. The made-for-TV event was rather silly, eventually ending with Phil Mickelson on top after his birdie on the 93-yard, 22nd hole of the event, under the greenside spotlights, but it had its moments and could be just the beginning for similar matches in the future, especially with the potential legalized sports gambling picking up steam.

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Best of 2018: Phil Mickelson

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