(
)
GULLANE, Scotland — Phil Mickelson could have won the Masters in April as well as the one next April, with next month’s PGA Championship win wedged in between, and it would not do more for his legacy than Sunday’s British Open triumph at Muirfield.
Mickelson’s first British Open triumph — his fifth career major championship — was a game-changer for him in how he will be viewed in the history of the game going forward.
It elevated his legacy to a height even he probably never dreamt would happen.
Before Sunday at Muirfield, Mickelson’s career was defined more by the majors he let get away than the ones he won. This one might not change everything. It does not erase the U.S. Open heartbreaks at Merion last month, at Winged Foot in 2006 or Shinnecock Hills in 2004. But it changes the perception of Mickelson.
He is now a mere U.S. Open win away from joining five players in the game’s history to have completed a career Grand Slam.
He has finished runner-up in the U.S. Open a record six times, including last month at Merion, where he held the lead with eight holes remaining. When the U.S. Open was last played at Pinehurst, where it will be held next June, Mickelson finished runner up to Payne Stewart. So if you believe in karma and perfect endings …
Only Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen won a Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship at least once in their respective careers. All five are at the top of the conversation as all-time greats.
Mickelson is muscling his way into that conservation.
“If I’m able to win the U.S. Open and complete the career Grand Slam, I think that that’s the sign of the complete great player,’’ Mickelson said. “I’m a leg away, and it’s been a tough leg for me, but I think that’s the sign.
“There are five players that have done that, and those five players are the greats of the game. You look at them with a different light. If I were able to ever win a U.S. Open, and I’m very hopeful that I will … ’’
Mickelson’s win at the British joined him with only Tiger Woods on the short list of active players who have won at least three of the four legs of the Grand Slam.
Only 13 players in the game’s history have won more major championships than Mickelson. Among them are Jack Nicklaus (18), Woods (14), Walter Hagen (11), Ben Hogan and Gary Player (both with 9) and Tom Watson (8).
Mickelson, with his fifth, joined Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson — pretty stout company. He is one more away from joining Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo and two more away from matching Arnold Palmer, Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen and Harry Varden.
So you can make your own assessment about where Mickelson, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame last year, stands among the all-time greats. But the results do not lie.
And, to take nothing away from some of those players ahead of him on that majors list, but the likes of Hagen, Vardon, Hogan and Snead did not face the depth of talent Mickelson has in his career. They did not play in the Tiger Woods era of dominance, during which Mickelson’s prime years have coincided.
“He’s one of those guys that feels like if you stay the same, you’re backing up,’’ Mickelson’s caddie Jim “Bones’’ Mackay said. “He’s a guy that really works hard to get better, and he’s gotten better. He’s 43 years old and he’s getting better.’’
Asked about Mickelson’s legacy with this win, Mackay said: “That’s up for you guys [the media] to decide. I just know the guy’s done a lot. He’s done a lot of pretty cool things on a pretty big stage.
“He’s stronger than he’s ever been, he’s fitter than he’s ever been, he’s hungrier than he’s ever been. You can’t understate how much he wants to compete and do well. I joke around with him all the time that when he’s 60-something years old, he’s going to be on that putting green at Augusta thinking he’s got a chance.”