Mickelson completes wire-to-wire win

Fantastic Phil: Mickelson romped to victory in the Waste Management Phoenix Open at Scottsdale

Inspired ‘Lefty’ takes Waste Management Phoenix Open title by four shots

Phil Mickelson rolled back the years with a vintage performance to win the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Arizona.

The four-time major winner posted a closing round of 67 – his highest round of the week – at TPC Scottsdale to finish on 28-under-par and four strokes ahead of runner-up Brandt Snedeker. The wire-to-wire victory gave the left-hander his 41st PGA Tour title.

Mickelson’s four-round aggregate of 256 was also the second lowest in the history of the PGA Tour and continued his streak of winning at least once a season into a record tenth year.

Afterwards, Mickelson admitted that it was a relief to get back into the winner’s circle, having gone 51 weeks since his last triumph at the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

“It’s an important one for me, because it’s been a while since I won, been a while since I’ve been in contention,” said the 42-year-old, who has catapulted himself back into the top ten on the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since May last year. “I was certainly nervous heading into the final round. I think the thing I’m most excited about was the way I was able to regain control of my thoughts after a few shots early on that I didn’t care for and come back and hit a number of good shots on the back nine to do what I needed to do to win.”

Mickelson also revealed that putting a new driver in his bag at the beginning of the week had given him renewed confidence.

“The rest of the year took a turn on Tuesday when I got my new driver,” he said. “It just changed my whole deal.  Here at TPC Scottsdale, water is down the left on a lot of holes, down left on ten, on 15, on 17, and being able to hit those fairways and make birdies and play those holes aggressively, that’s a big thing for me.

“The fact that this club is so easy to hit now, I think it’s going to change the rest of the year for me. I really do. My iron play has always been the strength of my game, and it was certainly good this week, but to drive it as easily as I did in play and to have the misses be so much less is going to set up for a very good year, I believe.”

The new champion also reserved some praise for runner-up Snedeker, the FedEx Cup champion who has started the season in the same form as he finished the last.

He said: “We have been on the Ryder Cup team last year and some team events where we have really had a lot of fun with each other.

“He’s a good friend, a great individual, and a heck of a player.  We had some good banter going on today. It was really fun.”

Mickelson’s week was just a fraction off being perfect after he horse-shoed out for a 59 on the ninth green (his 18th) in the opening round of the tournament. You can see it below…

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor