"Until Sunday, he was known as the best player to have never won a major."
I'm not a golf fan nor a golfer. I've never played anything beyond put-put in my life. Sure, I've enjoyed watching Tiger Woods do some amazing things with a golf ball...and I've admired his talent even without knowing how hard it really is to hit a little ball 100's of yards accurately. But I have to say, Phil Mickelson's win today was, well, riveting.

From what I understand, Phil has been on the verge of winning the Master's 6 times and 6 times it has gone just beyond his reach...until today. Lucky number 7, I guess. For those of you who saw the end of it today, wasn't it a great scene? Here's excerpts from this article:

Mickelson knows that feeling [of doing your best and losing] all too well. Of the half-dozen close calls he has had in the majors, nothing was more jarring than Payne Stewart holing a 15-foot par putt on the final hole at Pinehurst to win the '99 U.S. Open, or David Toms making par from 12 feet at the '01 PGA Championship to beat Mickelson by one shot.

"I think Phil deserved this one," Els said. "Full credit to him."

Mickelson couldn't help but hear it all. First came the cheers for him [at the beginning]-- "It's your year, Phil. Make it happen!" -- one man shouted. Then came the roars from all corners of the course.

The last cheer was for him. That was a first.

Before walking into the scoring hut to sign his card, Mickelson grabbed daughter Amanda and said, "Daddy won. Can you believe it?"
posted by Jimmy at 11:16 PM | |