Mickelson reflects on a year to savour

Open Championship success at Muirfield was the highlight of his golfing career.

December has dawned, and with it the time to reflect on the highlights of the season.

While there has been much debate over the PGA’s decision to make Tiger Woods their Player of the Year, there can be little doubt about the Most Popular Win of the Year.

Phil Mickelson’s Open Championship success at Muirfield was also the highlight of his golfing career.

And as he put his arms around longtime caddy Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay, all he could say was: “I did it, I can’t believe I did it.”

The Californian is not slow in explaining why his win was in a category all of its own.

“It was the greatest feeling because I would go to The Open each year for two weeks, trying to perfect the shots that are needed in links golf,” he says.

“So winning that trophy, with ‘Bones’ having gone through a 20-year process to help me achieve it, was the most fulfilling moment of my career.

“I was never positive I would win The Open.

“I was always positive and have always believed I would win the PGA, The Masters and the US Open.

“I’ve come close at the US Open, but the British always gave me problems even though, surprisingly, I’ve played reasonably well in it over the past nine years.

“And what has held me back has not been the windy conditions. It has been my putting on these fescue greens.

“The blades of grass on these greens are much stronger, so the ball gets kicked off line much easier with an imperfect stroke.

“It really wasn’t until this year that I started to putt well on these greens.”

Mickelson has rightfully earned another title, that of being a huge fan favourite, and not just for signing autographs at the end of a round.

Renowned for bold and adventurous shots on the golf course that can implode or inspire, Mickelson crowned his win at Muirfield with a 3 wood second shot on Muirfield’s par five 17th.

It helped him come from five back to a final round 66 and the Claret Jug.

“At some point in every golf tournament, you are going to have to man up and pull off a critical shot like that three wood, or the one off the pine straw at Augusta,” he says, recalling his wonder shot at the 13th hole in 2010 that helped him win that year’s Masters.

“So that was the shot I pulled off at Muirfield. If I had gone a little bit right or left, I was going to be fighting for par because that would be the severity of a miss.”

For an encore, Mickelson produced a masterclass finale, holding a 6 iron up against a left-to-right wind on 18.

The ball landed on the left edge of the green and settled 20 feet behind the pin.

“The grandstands were blocking the wind and my ball never moved,” Mickelson recalls. “It was as well struck a ball as I could have hit.”

And capping 2013’s best golfing moments, Mickelson’s family embraced him as he came off the green.

“You couldn’t put it into words,” admits Mickelson.

“To be able to share my greatest triumph with my wife and kids, and doing it a week after doing the same at the Scottish Open, was something else.

“And the kids are now at an age where they know what is going on.

“They were looking at me like: ‘My Daddy’s cool!’”

Indeed, he is but Mickelson will still be a hot contender for next year’s Majors.