Phil Mickelson is a golfing legend who has yet to give up or put down his beloved sport.
He inherited his love for the sport from his grandfather and father.
Mickelson may not be as well-known as Tiger Woods outside of the golfing world, but professional and casual golfers know him by name.
Best known for only relying on his left hand while golfing, Mickelson has earned himself the nickname “Lefty”.
Mickelson’s love of golf has earned him an impressive net worth.
What Is Phil Mickelson’s Net Worth?
Phil Mickelson’s net worth is $400 million, and he has earned an annual salary of anywhere between $40 million and $100 million that mostly comes from endorsements.
In his golfing career, he has earned more than $90 million in tournament money.
Phil Mickelson was born to Philip Alfred and Mary Mickelson on June 16th, 1970, in San Diego, California.
His father worked as an airplane pilot after having served as a naval pilot.
Mickelson’s love of golf started as soon as he began walking, beginning with him mirroring his father’s swing.
This caused him to start swinging with his left hand instead of his right hand, which is used for every other activity like writing.
When he was 10 years old, his father put together a 40-yard golf hole in their backyard and a bunker underneath it.
It was here that Mickelson developed his flop shots, using his childhood creativity to find ways to make as many different shots into the same hole as possible.
This resulted in many windows being broken, including his neighbors’ windows.
Luckily, his neighbors were very understanding and allowed him to pay them for repairs from his allowance.
Mickelson would move his pins all over the yard, creating new situations for himself with the same hole.
Sometimes, he would even place his pin behind trees that would block the holes, making Mickelson think even harder about his shots.
This dedication to the sport was something that his father and grandfather shared with him.
When Phil Mickelson’s grandfather was in eighth grade, his father stopped him and insisted that he was done with schooling and needed to get a job.
For 50¢ a day, Mickelson’s grandfather would be a caddie at Pebble Beach golf course.
Phil Mickelson carries the memory of his grandfather with him every time he plays on those greens.
Becoming The Face Of Amateur Golf
Thanks to the immense amount of talent he was already showing by high school, Phil Mickelson earned himself a golf scholarship to Arizona State University.
According to an interview he gave with the Golf Coaches Association of America, it was difficult for Mickelson to balance his time and living on his own, but it prepared him well for his future in golf.
When Phil Mickelson was invited to join the school’s traveling team, he was stepping into a team that had already been deemed veterans.
He was the only rookie, but he never saw it as intimidating.
Instead, he saw it as an opportunity to push himself harder to consider shots with his fellow teammates.
One of his teammates that he claims helped him grow as a golfer the most was Per-Ulrik Johansson because of how often they’d play together and how hard they’d push themselves to get better.
During his 1988–1889 school year alone, Phil Mickelson played 14 different events around the country.
He played at Pac-10 Conference, NCAA Regional, and the NCAA Championship during this time.
Phil Mickelson’s college career was filled with success after success, winning more often than anyone would expect from a golfer as young as him.
Starting from such a young age gave Mickelson more years in the sport than other people his age.
When he was just 20 years old in 1991, he became the last amateur to win a Professional Golfers’ Association event.
At the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Arizona, Phil won by a single shot over Bob Tway and Tom Purtzer, despite getting a triple-bogey earlier in the round.
While Mickelson would have won a check for $150,000, he could not accept the money due to his scholarship.
However, Mickelson didn’t drive 90 minutes south to win some money.
He was simply there to play golf.
Becoming A Champion
In 1992, Phil Mickelson went professional and had a fantastic first year as a professional, winning countless tournaments.
However, he couldn’t quite seem to claim victory.
This earned him the title of the best player in golf without a major win.
This string of bad luck turned around on April 11th in 2004.
Mickelson managed to sink an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.
Phil Mickelson was able to beat Ernie Els by a single stroke because of the shot he landed on his final hole.
For winning this tournament, Mickelson was awarded $1.17 million and was finally given one of the coveted green jackets traditionally given to each champion of the Masters Tournament.
Invigorated by his championship win, Mickelson was able to win the Professional Golfers’ Association Championship the following year.
He beat Davis Love III, Steve Elkington, Thomas Bjorn, and even Tiger Woods.
In the same year, Mickelson also won the Masters Tournament and was the runner-up at the 2006 United States Open.
During the 2006 Ford Championship at Doral, one of Mickelson’s wayward tee shots ended up breaking a spectator’s watch, and Mickelson gave him $200 as compensation.
The year 2010 had been a difficult one for the Mickelson family because his wife, Amy, had been suffering from breast cancer.
Luckily, she was well enough to come out to watch her husband win the 74th Masters Tournament and earn his third green jacket, which meant a lot to Mickelson.
In this tournament, Mickelson won over Lee Westwood, Anthony Kim, and Tiger Woods.
He made $1.35 million for that accomplishment.
This doesn’t even include the money he earns from his sponsorships from Rolex, Heineken N.V., Amgen, Callaway Golf, Melin, and Amstel Light.
Phil Mickelson Versus Tiger Woods In Las Vegas
Often being reminded of this second-place ranking compared to Tiger Woods created a rivalry between the two professional golfers.
While they were fiercely passionate about their sport, they were also gladly willing to play against each other.
Just as Mickelson had seen his older college teammates at Arizona State University, Mickelson saw challenging Woods as another opportunity to get better and grow as golfers together.
The event took place at Shadow Creek and was simply called “The Match”.
Whoever won “The Match” would take home all of the $9 million prize.
Given Woods and Mickelson’s track records, everyone was certain that Mickelson was going to walk away once again without a win.
The entire game was close, with the short leads being lost every round.
As the game progressed, spectators were less certain of Tiger Woods’s victory.
What made the game even more dramatic was the fact that Mickelson and Woods were wearing microphones, and viewers could hear their occasional small talk, without the usual noise that comes with tournaments and events.
While these golfers were known for teasing each other in conferences, it was clear that they agreed to be friendlier while on the air.
Some viewers complained that this didn’t make for good entertainment and they were expecting the long-time rivals to have more to say about one another.
Mickelson was under a lot of pressure during the game, especially after missing a putt for the first time through 18.
However, Woods missed the same shot, allowing Mickelson to make up for the miss.
While the money was a fun bonus, the real victory for both golfers was to be able to challenge themselves and each other.
They were able to raise $800,000 collectively, with Mickelson raising $600,000 and Woods raising $200,000.
The Match: Champions Of Charity
While “The Match” is definitely the most memorable charity game that Mickelson has ever played, it wasn’t his first or his last.
Mickelson loves being able to help people by doing what he loves most and spending time with other charitable celebrities.
In May of 2020, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods squared up once again to raise money for coronavirus relief.
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning joined them, with each team having a professional golfer and football player on their side.
While the golf world may have the Mickelson and Woods rivalry, football has an equally as competitive rivalry in Brady and Manning.
This tournament was seen as the rematch to Mickelson and Wood’s previous charity game.
“The Match: Champions of Charity” gave out $10 million in donations to multiple relief funds during the pandemic.
While the game may have not shown all of the players’ best golfing skills, it did create some unforgettable moments.
During the seventh hole, Tom Brady went to swing, but the force he used caused his microphone to fall out and his pants to split right down the middle from behind.
The game hadn’t been going well for Brady and viewers had a lot to say online.
His shots were so poor that his playing was discussed more than the fact that he had ripped his pants open.
While many fellow celebrities were gleefully pestering Brady, others were placing bets online, promising to donate their bet amount to charity if their guesses were accurate.
As Brady struggled, Mickelson did his best to make up for the mistakes of his partner.
In the end, Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning claimed that victory.
It was comical to watch the professional golfers take masterful shots followed by Manning and Brady’s less impressive golf abilities.
Becoming The Oldest Person To Win A PGA Championship
On May 23rd of 2021, Phil Mickelson became the oldest person to ever win a Professional Golfers’ Association Championship at 50 years old.
Throughout his entire golf career, Mickelson has been setting new records and never letting age define what he’s capable of.
After winning with a one-over 73 and finishing the tournament at six-under 282, he was asked whether or not he believed that this would be his last tournament or championship.
The golf legend beat Louis Oosthuizen and Brooks Koepka.
Despite playing against 99 of the top 100 golfers, Mickelson was able to come out on top without even needing to stress it.
While most of his fellow competitors were much younger than he was, he didn’t allow their youthfulness to discourage him.
Mickelson was uncertain of his future as a golfer, but he believes any golfer can stay active as long as he has with a little hard work, good health, and solid focus.
This victory also made him the 10th person to win three majors in three decades, adding just another tier to the greatness of his achievement.
The last golfer to achieve such a goal was his career-long rival, Tiger Woods.
Before Mickelson’s 2021 victory, the oldest winner of a Professional Golfers’ Association champion had been 48-year-old Julius Boros in 1968.
Boros held onto that distinction for 53 years until Mickelson took it from him.
It begs the question of how long it will be before the next oldest golfer has taken the title from Mickelson and how much older they will actually be.
While golf may be easier on the body than contact sports, age is known to get in the way of a golfer’s ability to swing and judge how much force must be put behind their shot.
The Accusation And Settlement For Insider Trading
As much as Phil Mickelson loves to golf, he also loves to gamble on sports teams.
With the amount of money he earned from endorsements and his championships, he had more than enough money to cover this risky hobby.
During Mickelson’s early career, he befriended Billy Walters.
Walters had a history of causing trouble, especially due to his love of gambling and seeing how far he could press the law without truly getting in trouble.
Mickelson and Walters were complete opposites who completed each other in the most dangerous ways.
Walters was a seasoned gambler and terrible golfer, but Mickelson was a veteran golfer and decent gambler at best.
In the early 1980s, Walters had been a part of a computer-aided gambling system called the Computer Group.
Although they used extremely primitive computers, their guesses were normally accurate.
Walters’s operation had been broken up by the FBI, under the context of illegal interstate gambling.
However, Walters was never charged with anything himself.
During the early 2010s, Walters became Mickelson’s own personal bookie.
With the help of computer-aided gambling, Walters was able to help Mickelson win a lot of money.
However, Mickelson quickly began losing more frequently with larger amounts of money.
This put him into a massive amount of debt with Walters, but Walters had a special plan for the way that Mickelson would pay off his debt.
Walters would go on to use Mickelson as a puppet for his insider trading.
Any profit made from the trading would go towards Mickelson’s debt and Mickelson wouldn’t have to worry about paying Walters back or anyone knowing what he had done.
Phil Mickelson was able to avoid all charges and only Billy Walters was charged with insider trading.
He was required to return $931,738 and an additional $105,291 in interest.
What Phil Mickelson Has Shown Golfers Around The World
Phil Mickelson was deemed a loser for many years through his early career, but he never let his losses define him.
Instead of being intimidated by the talent of others, Mickelson has always seen other people’s higher level of talent as a chance to learn from someone new.
His passion for golf has kept him going back to the greens since he was a small child, and his dedication to practice and constant learning is what has kept him in the professional golfing world for almost 30 years.
Mickelson’s love of golf runs deep in his ancestry and can be seen in the unique shots that only he could land.
One of the most pivotal moments in Phil Mickelson’s life was when his father brought the young boy along for a golf game with his grandfather.
That ignited the spark that led Mickelson to become a multimillionaire and golfing icon.
Although his career wasn’t always perfect, he never let his success determine what level of effort he would give each game.
Phil Mickelson will forever be known as the golfer who never gave up.
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