For 30 years Phil Mickelson was a staple of the WM Phoenix Open. In fact, he was the Phoenix Open.
Lefty made his debut at the PGA Tour’s annual Arizona desert stop in 1989 as an 18-year-old freshman at nearby Arizona State. As Mickelson evolved from a three-time NCAA champion to a six-time major champion and 45-time winner on Tour, the event at TPC Scottsdale grew with him and took a bit of his personality along for the ride.
Mickelson is no stranger to a good time and the same can be said for the tournament known as “The People’s Open” which boasts a party atmosphere highlighted by The Coliseum, the famous par-3 16th that features 15,000 fans spread around the 162-yard hole. This year’s event is Feb. 9-12.
“I think when I first started playing the tournament, I always felt this was a good golf course for me, always thought I would play well here and I always believed I would win this event,” said Mickelson, a three-time winner in Phoenix, ahead of the 2019 event. “One of the things that I could not have foreseen is probably the size, scale, scope of what this tournament has become. The 16th hole, what a famous and unique experience that is from a golfer standpoint, it’s unlike anything we have.
“It was always special, but it became something bigger and larger than I think I ever thought possible.”
Phil Mickelson rides with his wife Amy back to the 18th green after defeating Justin Leonard in a three-hole playoff to win the 1996 Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. (Photo: Simon P. Barnett/Allsport)
Mickelson’s first Phoenix Open win came in 1996, when the tournament was played Wednesday-Saturday because the Phoenix area was hosting the Super Bowl, just as it is this year (the 2023 event is Thursday-Sunday). He was on 59 watch for his other two wins in 2005 and 2013, but settled for 60 at each. He’s finished in the top 10 an impressive 11 times and holds 15 tournament records. He is the tournament’s all-time leading money winner.
Simply put, Mickelson is the man in Phoenix. Or at least he was.
For the fourth straight year, the Phoenix Open will not include Mickelson, who skipped for the first time in 2020 to play the Saudi International. The move to pass on Phoenix foreshadowed Mickelson’s later defection to LIV Golf, the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which now serves as title sponsor for the Saudi International.
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