PHIL's career in prespective

I have not had the need to do this in awhile!

6 majors--12th on the list--tied with Faldo and Trevino! Wow. In my opinion we can excluse Hagen, Jones, Varden and Sarazen. They are not in the modern PGA era (say1938 or so) and while they are ultimate greats of the game they really can't be compared to PHIL and others. Guys ahead of PHIL are Nicklaus, Tiger, Palmer, Snead, Player and Watson. I guess PHIL gets some bonus points for having 10 second place finishes in Major-second only to Nicklaus. PHIL also won more regular tour events then Faldo or Trevino so there you have it! PHIL also won a TPC and a few World Golf championship events so those are bonuses!

44 tour wins! Snead, Woods, Palmer, Hogan, Nicklaus, Nelson and Caspar in the modern era tops PHIL! Caspar at 51 seems out of PHIL's reach. Still he is comfortably in the top 10 of all time!

PHIL was be the most enduring player of all time!! Snead won the West Virginia PGA championship in 1936 and the Greensboro open in 1965. Not quite 29 years apart while PHIL won in Tucson in January 1991. His May 2021 PGA win spans more then 30 years! Plus his time on the OWGR standings in top 50 and top 100 is unmatched! Heck at almost 51 he is the oldest golfer ever in the top 50!! So he has the longest span between professional wins and the longest span in the top 50 in the world!

So in my opinion moved himself up in historical standards this week! Big big deal for PHIL fans!

Was just thinking about this

Take the majors he had an excellent chance to win in the last decade but did not

Pebble 2010 - PUTTING
St. Georges 2011 - putting plus Clarke played very well. Spotted too many strokes going into the final round
Augusta 2012 - bad strategy and a bad break on the 4th led to a triple. He had a 5 iron with a peg in the ground. NO reason to bail out into the patrons.
Merion 2013 - UGH! PUTTING! BAD WEDGES! How the hell did he lose?
Valhalla 2014 - shoots 15 under par but loses to McIlroy who had a horseshoe up his ass
Augusta 2015 - shoots 14 under but loses to Speith
Troon 2016 - Plays well enough to whip Tiger at his historical best, yet somehow he gets whopped. Stenson had to play the highest level of golf ever observed in the history of the game

Should have won Pebble, Merion, Valhalla, and Troon. Easily could have won Augusta 2012. Had good chances in the other 2, but were by no means gimmies

Had he won those 4, he'd be at 11 if you count the TPC as the Hall of Fame does, 10 if you do not. He'd be up there with Hogan. Probably only Hagen, Jones, Woods, and Nicklaus would be ahead of him. As of now, he's in that 11-15 range, but probably goes to about 10 if he wins at Torrey.

And don't get me started about that friggen rock at Shinnecock or Winged Foot

Here would be my all time list

1. Jones
2. Nicklaus
3. Woods
4. Hagen
5. Hogan
6. Player
7. Sarazen
8. Nelson
9. Snead
10. Watson
11. Palmer
12. Mickelson
13. Vardon
14. Faldo
15. Seve

A Phil win at Torrey puts him ahead of Watson (I view Watson as a bridge between the great champions like Phil and the greatest players of all time, who the top 9 represent)

No one dominated like Jones!!

There was a rock/pebble in front of PHIL's ball at #17 on the final day at US open. Not to mention the watering disaster on Saturday afternoon. St George's PHIL missed a short par putt-maybe at #12 and that unhinged him. The Triple at #4 at Masters 2012 plus he missed two eagle putts (13 & 15) --oh my!

I really think in a way the crowd pulled PHIL through this year. IMO the PGA rushed the finish in 2014. It was too dark to finish and it un-nerved PHIL and Ricki. The conditions favored Rory who had the lead! Heck go back to Pebble 2010 where PHIL three putted on #4 and was unhinged after that!

PHIL has six majors and really he had to go out and take everyone of them!

Phil birdied the final hole in the 2014 PGA.

It was 16 that screwed Phil. His pitch hit the front lip of the hole and went 10 feet by. Left the putt short. McIlroy got up and down from a fairway bunker for birdie on 17 to win. Not to mention how the hell his ball didnt find water on 18 when he hit the slice

that's right!

Loving this thread, and yes, there have been numerous majors where it felt like he easily could have won with a little better luck. But if you told me in 2003 that he was going to eventually win 6 majors, I definitely would have taken it! And who knows, there could still be some Mickelson magic to come. Nobody saw this PGA win coming this week, except maybe him.

In some ways, I actually find Phil underrated because we treat 1st place and 2nd place in majors so differently-- the winner is the hero and 2nd place is the guy who blew it and failed. But finishing 2nd in a major is still incredible if you think about it. Phil has 11 second places and 7 third places to go along with all of his wins, that is amazing!

Admin wrote:44 tour wins!

Isn't it 45 tour wins?

Yes yes it is 45 now! Actually it should be 46. The 2007 HSBC championship which PHIL won is not now considered a PGA win. It was sanctioned by all tours with the same qualifications then as it was in 2009 when it became an official PGA event. The OPEN championship for years was not considered an official PGA win-it is now. All the HSBC championships should be PGA wins.

So yes PHIL is now technically tied with Hagan who IMO just golfed in a different era.

2007 was only a Euro tour event

It's the 2009 HSBC that for reasons that defy logic, is not an official tour win, even though it gave official tour exemptions and official money

As for Phil's majors number, officially it is 7 as the HOF does count the TPC as a major, even though the fake news media refuses to.

Jones real number is 13 as the amateurs were absolutely majors then. Jack's is 20. Tiger's 17 (his two TPCs). Hagen's I believe is 16 as the Western Open was a major when he played