Eric Sorenson
Nobody knows their child quite like a parent.
Even if that child is 43 years young.
Sunday Phil Mickelson etched his name deeper in golf lore capturing his first British Open title in 20 tries. It was his fifth Major Championship.
“They don’t get much better than that under the conditions,” Phil Mickelson, SR. told Pros2Prep’s Brad Cesmat in a phone interview Monday. “It’s definitely the best round I’ve seen him play in links golf. I think the part that makes this so special is he doesn’t have the practice, the experience in links golf like he has over here in our country. That’s what makes it so unique.”
Lefty shot a final round 5-under 66 and pulled away from the field which included a frustrated Tiger Woods who couldn’t quite keep it all together down the stretch.
The elder Mickelson believes a change in Phil’s mental approach to the game has been one of the biggest keys to winning all five of his Majors in a nine-year span after struggling to win “the big one” until his mid-30’s.
“In golf there’s only one winner out of 144 players,” Mickelson, SR. explained to Cesmat. “There is more losing than there is winning so you just have to understand you don’t win every time you tee it up. He just loves the game.”
He said it was an emotional time Sunday watching the final round from his San Diego home with his wife and Phil’s younger brother Tim, who’s ASU’s head men’s golf coach.
It also didn’t hurt Mickelson was the hunter, not the hunted at Muirfield, something he didn’t have the luxury of experiencing when he lost the U.S. Open last month in heart-breaking fashion.
“He was in the lead, in the lead, in the lead and lost it on the afternoon of the fourth day, he said. “This time he hung back and got the lead when it [counted]. That was different and a surprise but not a total surprise. I know he’s working awful hard.”
