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Ahead of the Waste Management Phoenix Open last week, Phil Mickelson said he had to reassess the chances of him reaching his goal of 50 PGA Tour wins.
“I’ve got to be honest in my assessment of winning seven more times, is that realistic?” he said. “It’s certainly my goal and something I’m striving for and yet I know it’s not going to be easy.
“So I don’t have the same mindset of I’m 100% going to do this thing, I’m a little more realistic.”
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Just over a week later, and after a missed cut in Phoenix, Mickelson had PGA Tour win number 44 and his second win in less than a year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, after having not previously won for four-and-a-half years dating back to the 2013 Open Championship.
So, will Mickelson’s goals have changed yet again? Perhaps.
At Pebble Beach, Mickelson raced into a three-shot lead on Sunday
until darkness fell with playing partner Paul Casey waiting to putt on
the 16th green. The pair disagreed on the decision to call it for the night, but Mickelson understood the reasoning behind it.
When play resumed at 8am local time on Monday, Casey tapped in his three-footer for par on the 16th and both players hit fantastic iron shots into the par-3 17th.
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However, both failed to make their birdie chances count and the five-time major winner headed down the last with a three-shot lead.
On the final hole, again, there was little in the way of drama and, sensibly, Mickelson opted for an iron off the tee. He hit his third shot on the par-5 closing hole to six feet and made the birdie putt to win by three from the Englishman, who also birdied the final hole to finish solo second.
It marks Mickelson’s first win on US soil since the 2013 Waste Management Phoenix Open and, with 44 PGA Tour wins, he is now one behind Walter Hagen, who is eighth on the list of all-time PGA Tour wins with 45.
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