Presented by POOL SCOUTS.
This Day In Sports…April 9, 2006, 20 years ago today:
Phil Mickelson wins his third major in three years—and his second Green Jacket—with a championship in the 70th edition of the Masters. That propelled him to No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings behind Tiger Woods. Mickelson has never made it to No. 1. “Lefty” would win the Masters a third time in 2010. He’s also been victorious in one British Open and one PGA Championship, but he has yet to win the U.S. Open (he’s ended up second a record six times).
It was quite the turnaround for Mickelson. Just two years earlier, he had finally captured his first major at the Masters after a career of coming close. It took him 47 starts in majors before getting that first Green Jacket on Easter Sunday, 2004, at Augusta National. In that one, Mickelson birdied five of the last seven holes in the final round—and needed the one he got on 18 to edge Ernie Els by one stroke. Lefty had 22 PGA Tour victories to that point but had always met frustration in the majors, with 17 top 10 finishes and zero trophies.
Mickelson’s career on the PGA Tour began before he even turned pro. In 1991, while a junior at Arizona State, he won the Northern Telecom Open, becoming only the seventh amateur ever to win a PGA Tour event. (It would be 33 years until the next one, Nick Dunlap in 2024). Mickelson’s 45th and most recent tour win was at the 2021 PGA Championship, where—at 50 years and 11 months—he broke the mark for the oldest golfer ever to win a major.
In 2022, Mickelson became the most accomplished golfer to defect to the Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, and his relationship with the PGA Tour has been contentious ever since. He is suspended from the PGA Tour and says he’s at peace with the fact that he may never play on the tour again. Although Mickelson is still eligible to play in majors, he’s missing this week’s Masters due to “a personal health matter.” This is the first time in 32 years that neither Mickelson nor Woods is playing in the tournament.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
