Phil Finally Finishes First on a Links Course in a Fantastic Finish

For many years Phil Mickelson has struggled to play his best golf on links courses. Some have attributed this to the dismal weather that usually accompanies links golf, others to the fact that his everyday aerial approach on the PGA Tour does not work on a links course. He has had brief moments of success on links courses. Most recently he finished tied for second at the 2011 Open Championship (Known as the British Open in the United States of America) at Royal St. George’s; a strong finish that was sparked by a great front nine on Sunday. Overall though, his body of work on links courses was not terribly noteworthy, and a win was conspicuously missing. That was until today as Phil won the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart, a great new links in the far north of Scotland.

Phil started the final round tied for second at fourteen under and two shots back of Henrik Stenson after shooting 66-70-66 in the first three rounds. Right out of the gates Phil made sure that the fans in Inverness got their money’s worth as he started double-bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie, birdie, and birdie. In usual Phil fashion, he had managed to pack a full day of excitement into the first six holes. After this thrilling start Phil was still firmly in the mix though. Phil followed his exciting start to the day with four pars. (Don’t be fooled though, those pars were not completely excitement-free.) Then he birdied eleven, twelve, and fourteen to get to eighteen under par. The last of those three birdies finally gave him sole possession of the lead. Three pars later, he stood on the eighteenth tee in prime position to claim his first victory on a links course. He hit a decent tee shot up the left hand side of the par five finisher. At this point only one man stood in his way, Branden Grace. After Grace made par up ahead to stay one shot behind Phil, it looked as if the tournament was indeed Mickelson’s. Once Phil knew that he only needed a par, he laid up short of the green, and then hit his approach to the fringe, about twenty feet from the hole. As he walked up to the green the TV announcers congratulated him for finally winning in Scotland. Unfortunately their praise was premature as Phil ran his first putt about six feet past and then missed the come-back putt. This left him with a bogey on the final hole and tied at seventeen under with Branden Grace.

As Mickelson and Grace made their way back to the eighteenth tee for the sudden death playoff one was tempted to think that Phil had frittered away his best chance to win on a links course. I say “tempted” because one cannot forget that Phil is a great champion and has overcome adversity to win before. Both men hit solid drives down the middle. Phil took the advantage after the second shot though as Grace hit his layup into the rough and Phil hit a solid wood just short of the green. Although he was in the rough, Grace made solid contact. In fact, he hit his ball too cleanly as it checked up just before a slope that would have brought his ball close to the hole. This left him with a tough twenty foot putt. Phil now had an opening, and in typical Phil fashion, he hit a nifty wedge shot that went just passed the hole and then spun back to within a foot. Phil tapped in for birdie and cleared the stage for Grace. Grace proceeded to miss his birdie putt and Phil was finally a champion on a links course. Maybe even more importantly, he was finally a champion in Scotland – “The Home of Golf.” There is no doubt that every great golf champion should hoist at least one trophy on Scottish soil, and Phil, who is undoubtedly a great golf champion, has finally accomplished this feat.

Now that Phil has finally conquered links golf, there is no doubt that he is the favorite going into the Open Championship at Muirfield, which starts on Thursday. The naysayers may doubt his chances at Muirfield because it is tough to win the week before a major and then go on to win the major as well. One must not forget that this feat has been done before though. Not only that, the last person to do it was Phil Mickelson as he won the BellSouth Classic the week before the 2006 Masters and then went on to win the Masters as well. So, please refrain from being surprised if Phil hoists the Claret Jug a week from today.