How Phil Mickelson could make more PGA Championship history

Few players have a major championship pedigree to match Phil Mickelson.

With age, the 53-year-old has defied belief, thrown trends out of the window and etched his name into the history books.

Since making his major debut at the U.S. Open in 1990, Mickelson has contested 122 of the championships and made the cut in 101 of them.

By playing on the weekend at the Masters last year, ‘Lefty’ became the third member of an exclusive club made up of Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

The trio are, by quite some way, the only players to have made 100 cuts in major championships.

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Meanwhile, Mickelson remains the oldest winner of a major and it’s his relationship with making history in the PGA of America’s flagship event that appears to have no bounds.

In 2021, at 50 years, 11 months and 7 days old, he triumphed in the hunt for the Wanamaker trophy on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island.

“It’s very possible that this is the last tournament I ever win,” he said after fending off Brooks Koepka.

“Like if I’m being realistic. But it’s also very possible that I may have had a little bit of a breakthrough in some of my focus and maybe I go on a little bit of a run, I don’t know.

“But the point is that there’s no reason why I or anybody else can’t do it at a later age. It just takes a little bit more work.”

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Whether or not Mickelson has won for the last time or not, the LIV Golf star can still make more history in the championship without lifting the title.

Heading into Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, next week, Mickelson has made the joint most cuts in the event.

His 27 cuts made in the PGA Championship can only be matched by Raymond Floyd and Nicklaus, paving the way for Mickelson to fly solo at the top.

The American hasn’t missed the cut since 2018 and finished solo second when it was last at Valhalla ten years ago.

A T6 finish at LIV Golf Jeddah remains his best effort of the season, whilst his last start resulted in a T22 finish at LIV Golf Singapore.

Over to you, Phil.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.