30 Things You Didn’t Know About Phil Mickelson

Arguably the greatest left-handed player to ever play golf, Phil Mickelson has won 45 times on the PGA Tour, including six Major championships. He was one of a few players in history to win a PGA Tour event as an amateur. With his win at the 2021 PGA Championship, he became the oldest Major winner in history. The American currently plays in LIV Golf. 

Get to know Phil Mickelson better with these facts…

Phil Mickelson facts:

1. Philip Alfred Mickelson was born on 16 June 1970 at San Diego, California. 

2. He has won six Major championships, including three Masters, one Open and two PGA Championships.

3. The only Major he has not won is the US Open, a tournament he has been runner-up in six times.

4. Mickelson has had 29 top-fives and 40 top-10s in Majors.

5. He won the WGC-Mexico Championship in 2018, which broke what was nearly a five year drought.

6. Mickelson is second on the PGA Tour's all-time money list with $96.6 million. Tiger Woods sits first.

7. He has his own coffee brand called 'For Wellness'.

8. Mickelson has played in 12 Presidents Cups and 12 Ryder Cups.

9. He started playing golf at 18 months old. He learned how to play golf from his father, Phil Mickelson Sr. His maternal grandfather, Alfred Santos, was a caddie at Pebble Beach and also took Phil to play golf as a child. 

10. He honed his now famous short game skills thanks to an extensive practice area in the backyard of his childhood home in San Diego.

11. He graduated from the University of San Diego High School in 1988 and attended Arizona State University, where he made his name as an amateur golfer. 

12. Mickelson has one of the most successful amateur careers in the sport’s history, capturing three NCAA individual titles (tied for the most ever with Ben Crenshaw), three Haskins Awards for the outstanding collegiate golfer, and one NCAA team title. He was the second collegiate golfer to earn four first-team All-American honors. In 1990, he became the first left-handed player to win the US Amateur title. 

13. He is one of only five players to win the US Amateur and NCAA Championship title in the same season. The others are Bryson Dechambeau, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Ryan Moore.

14. In January 1991, Mickelson won his first PGA Tour event as an amateur at the Northern Telecom Open, making him one of eight players to win on tour as an amateur. He was the most recent player to win a tour event as an amateur until January 2024, when Nick Dunlap won The American Express. 

15. He turned professional in 1992.

16. The man known as 'Lefty' is actually right handed, and the only thing he does left-handed is play golf. He started playing left-handed because he learned by mirroring his right-handed father’s swing.

17. Despite 57 professional wins and six Major titles, Mickelson surprisingly has never been World No.1.

18. Mickelson owns a private jet to get between golf tournaments.

19. Mickelson is an avid pilot, following in the footsteps of his father who was a Navy pilot.

20. He teamed up with Roger Cleveland to create the Callaway Mack Daddy PM Grind wedge (pictured below). He has also helped design the Titleist 731PM irons.

21. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2012.

22. He and his wife, Amy, have three children, Amanda, Sophia and Evan. 

23. Mickelson went without a Major win in his first 12 years on the PGA Tour. He won his first Major title in 2004, when he secured the win with an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Ernie Els by one stroke.

24. With his win at the 2021 PGA Championship, he became the oldest Major winner in history at the age of 50 years, 11 months and seven days. 

25. In 2022, he signed with LIV Golf for a reported fee of $200 million, the biggest LIV contract until Jon Rahm’s big money move in 2023. The move meant Mickelson left the PGA Tour after 30 years of membership.

26. Mickelson has earned most of his earnings as a golfer through endorsements. During his career, he’s been sponsored by Titleist, KPMG, Workday, Bearing Point, Barclays, Amstel Light and Ford. In 2022, he lost a significant number of sponsors after comments he made about the Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

27. He still drives the ball over 300 yards in his 50s. He averaged 301.8 yards in the 2023 LIV Golf season. 

28. Mickelson split with his long-time caddie Jim ‘Bones’ Mackay in 2017. He now has his younger brother, Tim, on the bag.

29. He has admitted to having a gambling addiction. Renowned gambler Bill Walters wrote in his book in 2023 that Mickelson has allegedly wagered more than $1 billion over the last decade. Walters also claims Mickelson has lost nearly $100 million through gambling. 

30. He has had 16 top-10 finishes at the Masters.

Phil Mickelson bio

How far does Phil Mickelson hit the ball?

Mickelson averaged 301.8 yards in the 2023 LIV Golf season. 

Phil Mickelson career earnings and net worth

Mickelson has made over $96 million in prize money over his career. In 2023, he claimed he was “almost a billionaire”. According to Sportico, he has earned more than $1 billion from prize money and sponsors, with his net worth reportedly around $875m. Other publications estimate his net worth to be around $400m.

How much did LIV Golf pay Phil Mickelson?

Mickelson’s deal with LIV Golf was reportedly worth around $200 million, which was the largest LIV contract before Jon Rahm’s reported deal of almost $600m.

How much has Phil Mickelson lost gambling? 

According to renowned gambler Billy Walters’ 2023 book, Mickelson has allegedly lost almost $100m through gambling. 

What medical condition does Phil Mickelson have?

After feeling a mystery pain while preparing for the 2010 US Open, Mickelson learned that he had psoriatic arthritis – an incurable disease that he will have to manage for the rest of his life.