by Aaron Hunt

Created on: November 15, 2008

Phil Mickelson, aka "Lefty", is one of the most exciting players of his generation. Probably just one step behind that guy named after a big feline in his popularity. But for many years, he was deemed the best player never to have won a major. Why did it take him so long? In my opinion, Phil truly enjoys the game of golf and he respects it history. Perhaps it's better to say he cherishes its history. Therefore, he knew that names like Snead and Hogan had won more than 25 times before capturing their first majors. In fact, Hogan was well into his thirties before his first major and he went on to win eight more in his career. With that appreciation of history, I believe Phil knew time was on his side.

Golf is a game, and any game should be played because it is enjoyable. For Phil, this meant trying some heroic shots. It seemed for a while he became enamored with hitting the ball as far as possible. He tried graphite shafts in his irons and he was booming his drives, although perhaps not with the accuracy he once displayed. This put him in situations where he could rely on his true talent creativity. Phil is a master around the greens, and anyone who's watched even one of his rounds has seen an unbelievable shot in his short game that just makes one wonder "how is he able to do that?" But that same creativity probably held him back early in his career simply because creative people are rarely good at following a structured plan for a day, let alone 4 days. And having a plan and executing every shot during the tournament to that plan is a critical component to winning a major. Phil's creative drive would lead him to try something that perhaps he knew he shouldn't do, but he also knew he probably could do it, so why not try? That was part of the fun of the game for him.

Another factor that may have delayed his win at a major is that although I don't personally know the man, it is evident that golf is not his entire life. Golf is Phil's vocation, and much like an engineer, a teacher, or a cook would do, he goes to work. He just happens to be a professional golfer. But Phil is a family man. In 1999 when he lost the U.S. Open to Payne Stewart, he was waiting for his pager to go off signaling his wife was going to have their first child. He would have walked off the course had that happened, I'm sure of it. For the next few years, golf was probably of secondary importance at best. Once he rededicated time to his playing career, he won 3 majors in as many years. He now had the contentment and support of his family, he had spent his years of exploring his creativity learning how often he might pull off a certain shot, and he had learned some patience simply out of maturity. I'm sure all of these factors played a role in his resurgence. Perhaps now we'll see another lull as Lefty spends more time with the family, but at least the question of "When will he win his first major?" has been replaced by "When will he win his next?"

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