Tiger Woods ‘owned’ me, admits Phil

• Phil Mickelson reserves high praise for rival Woods
• No one ‘remotely close’ to Tiger in his prime, he said
• Admitted he was ‘owned’ by Woods until 2007

Phil Mickelson has reserved the highest of praise for his arch-rival Tiger Woods, saying that none of the current leading players in the world are ‘remotely close’ to his level.

Speaking on the first episode of GOLF LIVE, Mickelson, 45, reflected on his time spent battling with Woods at the pinnacle of the game and, now spending a lot of time playing practice rounds with golf’s next generation, believes it’ll be ‘decades’ before anyone could get to that level.

“There is nobody in the game of golf that I have seen that is remotely close to the level of performance Tiger was in his prime,” said Phil Mickelson, who has been prevented from reaching world No.1 largely because of Woods. “Mentally, short game, or ball striking, I don’t think anybody matches him in any of those areas. And Tiger put them all together in one to create a career that is mind-boggling.

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“So it’s difficult for me to see the game of golf returning to the level that it was at during his heyday without somebody like that. And as great as the young players are, the level that I’ve seen out of him, especially when you go back to 2000 at the US Open and his performance when he held all four major championships at once, I think we’re decades away from anybody getting back to that level.”

Mickelson had nine professional wins to his name before Woods burst onto the scene, but that totally turned on its head with the 14-time major winner grabbing eight of those titles before ‘Lefty’ won the first of his five at the 2004 Masters.

And Mickelson admitted he was ‘owned’ by Woods up until 2007, when things started to swing more in his favour.

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“I played less-than-my-best golf early, up until about 2007, when I played with Tiger, and then I played my best golf from 2007 on, when I was with Tiger,” he said. “If you look at the record, I don’t know exactly what it says, but he owned me, head to head, until ’07, and since then it is flipped.

“There have been a few little nuances and things that I’ve kind of picked up that have helped me bring out my best golf. But I can’t say that I played my best golf throughout my career with him, because that’s not the case over the course of my entire career.”

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Phil Mickelson :: Do you agree on Tiger?

Do you agree with Phil Mickelson that none of the current best players in the world are remotely close to Tiger’s level? And who out of Spieth, Fowler, Day and McIlroy do you believe has the best chance of forging a career most like Woods? Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.