50 facts about professional golfer Phil Mickelson

Phil Mickelson is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed. Learn 50 things you missed about Phil Mickelson.

1. Philip Alfred Mickelson is an American professional golfer.

2. Phil Mickelson has won 42 events on the PGA Tour, including five major championships: three Masters titles (2004, 2006, 2010), a PGA Championship (2005), and an Open Championship (2013).

3. Phil Mickelson is one of 16 golfers in the history of the sport to win at least three of the four professional majors.

4. Phil Mickelson has finished runner-up in the U.S. Open a record six times.

5. Phil Mickelson has spent over 700 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking, has reached a career-high world ranking of 2nd several times and has a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour.

6. Phil Mickelson is nicknamed "Lefty" for his left-handed swing, even though he is otherwise right-handed.

7. Phil Mickelson was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in May 2012.

8. Born in San Diego, California, to parents Philip Anthony Mickelson, (an airline pilot and former naval aviator), and Mary Mickelson (née Santos), he was raised there and in Scottsdale, Arizona.

9. Although right-handed otherwise, he plays golf left-handed, as he learned by watching his right-handed father swing and mirroring his style.

10. Phil Mickelson began golf under his father's instruction before starting school.

11. Phil Sr.'s work schedule as a commercial pilot allowed them to play together several times a week and an extensive practice area in their San Diego backyard allowed young Phil to hone his creative short game.

12. Phil Mickelson graduated from the University of San Diego High School in 1988.

13. Phil Mickelson attended Arizona State University in Tempe on a golf scholarship and graduated in 1992.

14. While at ASU, he became the face of amateur golf in the United States, capturing three NCAA individual championships and three Haskins Awards (1990, 1991, 1992) as the outstanding collegiate golfer.

15. He also led the Sun Devils to the NCAA National Championship in 1990.

16. Over the course of his collegiate career, he won 16 tournaments.

17. Phil Mickelson was the second collegiate golfer to earn first-team All-American honors all four years.

18. In addition in 1990 he became the first golfer with a left-handed swing to win the U.S. Amateur title.

19. Perhaps his greatest achievement as an amateur came in January 1991 when he won his first PGA Tour event, the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson.

20. At age 20, he was only the sixth amateur to win a tour event, and the first in over five years, last by Scott Verplank at the Western Open in August 1985.

21. Through 2014, Mickelson is the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour.

22. Following his graduation from ASU in 1992 Mickelson turned professional and bypassed the Tour's qualifying process (Q-School) because of his 1991 win in Tucson, which earned him a two-year exemption.

23. In early 1993, Mickelson hired Jim "Bones" Mackay as his caddy, who remains in that position today.

24. Phil Mickelson won many PGA Tour tournaments in this period, including the Byron Nelson Golf Classic and the World Series of Golf in 1996, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1998, the Colonial National Invitation in 2000 and the Greater Hartford Open in 2001 and again in 2002.

25. His win in the Buick Invitational in 2000 ended Tiger Woods' streak of six consecutive tournament victories. After the win, Mickelson said, "I didn't want to be the bad guy. I wasn't trying to end the streak per se. I was just trying to win the golf tournament."

26. Mickelson's first professional major championship win came at the Masters in 2004, where he won with an 18-foot (5.5 m) birdie putt on the final hole.

27. Mickelson captured his third professional major title the following spring at The Masters in 2006. Mickelson won his second Green Jacket after shooting a 3-under-par final round, winning by two strokes over his nearest rival, Tim Clark. This win propelled him to 2nd place in the Official World Golf Ranking (his career best), behind Woods, and ahead of Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen.

28. After winning two majors in a row heading into the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, Mickelson was bidding to join Ben Hogan and Tiger Woods as the only players to win three consecutive professional majors. Mickelson was the joint-leader going into the final round, but he was part of a wild finish to the tournament, in which he ended up in a tie for second place at +6 (286), one shot behind Australian champion Geoff Ogilvy.

29. During the third round of the 2006 Ford Championship at Doral, Mickelson gave a spectator $200 after his wayward tee shot at the par-5 10th broke the man's watch.

30. Phil Mickelson also has shown other signs of appreciation. In 2007 after hearing the story of retired NFL player, Conrad Dobler, and his family on ESPN explaining their struggles to pay medical bills, Mickelson volunteered to pay tuition for Holli Dobler, Conrad Dobler's daughter, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

31. On May 13, 2007, Mickelson came from a stroke back on the final round to shoot a three-under 69 to win The Players Championship with an 11-under-par 277. This Mother's Day win was his first without his wife and children present.

32. In the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont, after shooting 11 over par after 2 rounds, Mickelson missed the cut (by a stroke) for the first time in 31 majors, since The Open Championship in 1999 at Carnoustie. He had been hampered by a wrist injury that was incurred while practicing in the thick rough at Oakmont a few weeks before the tournament.

33. On September 3, 2007, Mickelson won the Deutsche Bank Championship which is the second FedEx Cup playoff event. On the final day, he was paired with Tiger Woods, who ended up finishing two strokes behind Mickelson in a tie for second. It was the first time Mickelson was able to beat Woods while paired together on the final day of a tournament.

34. In 2008, Mickelson won the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial with a -14, one shot ahead of Tim Clark and Rod Pampling.

35. Phil Mickelson was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.

36. Phil Mickelson won for the first time in 2009 by defending his title at the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club. He finished one stroke ahead of Steve Stricker. It was Mickelson's 35th win on tour; he surpassed Vijay Singh for second place on the current PGA Tour wins list. A month later, he won his 36th title on the tour, and his first World Golf Championship, at the 2009 WGC-CA Championship with a one- stroke win over Nick Watney.

37. As a professional competitor, Mickelson's playing style is described by many as "aggressive" and highly social.

38. Phil Mickelson has also been characterized by his powerful and sometimes inaccurate driver, but his excellent short game draws the most positive reviews, most of all his daring "Phil flop" shot in which a big swing with a high-lofted wedge against a tight lie flies a ball high into the air for a short distance.

39. Phil Mickelson is usually in the top 10 in scoring, and he led the PGA Tour in birdie average as recently as 2013.

40. His playing style wins 8% of his Tour starts, along with top 25s in well over half and top 10s in a third.

41. Major companies which Mickelson currently endorses are KPMG, ExxonMobil (Mickelson and wife Amy started a teacher sponsorship fund with the company), Rolex, Barclays, and Callaway Golf.

42. Phil Mickelson has been previously sponsored by Titleist, Bearing Point and Ford.

43. After being diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in 2010, Mickelson was treated with Enbrel and began endorsing the drug.

44. The week before the 2013 Open Championship, Mickelson warmed up for the event by winning his first tournament on British soil at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open on July 14, after a sudden-death playoff against Branden Grace.

45. The following week, on July 21, Mickelson won his fifth professional major title at the Open Championship (often referred to as the British Open) at Muirfield Golf Links in Scotland, the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. This is the first time in history that anyone has won both the Scottish Open and The Open Championship in the same year.

46. Mickelson birdied four of the last six holes in a brilliant final round of 66 to win the title by three strokes. He shed tears on the final green after completing his round. Mickelson later said: "I played arguably the best round of my career, and shot the round of my life. The range of emotions I feel are as far apart as possible after losing the U.S. Open. But you have to be resilient in this game."

47. Prior to the 2015 Masters, Mickelson's best finish in 2015 was a tie for 17th.

48. At the 2015 Masters, Mickelson shot rounds of 70-68-67-69 to finish tied for second with Justin Rose, four shots behind champion Jordan Spieth.

49. At the Open Championship Mickelson shot rounds of 70-72-70 to enter the final round eight shots behind outside the top 40. In the final round Mickelson birdied the 15th hole to move to 10 under and within two of the lead.

50. After a missed 10 foot birdie putt on 16, Mickelson hit his drive on the infamous road hole 17th at the famed Old Course at St Andrews onto a 2nd floor balcony of the Old Course Hotel. The out of bounds drive lead to a triple bogey 7 that sent Mickelson tumbling out of contention.

Source: Wikipedia.org