In his 20th season as a professional on the PGA Tour, 41-year-old Phil Mickelson now faces a crop of challengers nearly half his age. The 4-time major winner, however, feels that experience is precisely why some of his best years are still to come.
“As good as these young players are, there are glaring weaknesses in their game,” Mickelson said Tuesday to the Arizona Republic. “I feel like being out there for 20 years, being able to work with top-notch instruction and have the practice really apply to my performance, that some of my best years are coming.”
Mickelson has a point. U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy struggles with putting. World No. 1 Luke Donald said he has been working on his driving accuracy. Martin Kaymer has made changes to his swing which have him winless since January.
The world No. 10, however, has his own flaws. Mickelson’s characteristically errant driver is not improving and the left-hander has turned at least temporarily to the belly putter to improve from short range.
Mickelson said he focused a lot this year on ballstriking with Butch Harmon though he does not expect his mechanics to change much for the remainder of his career. The focus on the long game, like Tiger Woods has said, resulted in a dip in his short game prowess. Mickelson plans to fix that next season without pushing the issue too hard.
“I think what happens is you realize the importance of putting and you almost get result oriented and, really, that’s the exact opposite of what you want to do,” he said. “You want to putt free without the expectation of the ball going in so you can make a free stroke and get the ball rolling correctly.
“So as I’ve started to lower expectations and free up the stroke, I’ve been making a lot more.”
