What if …
PGA Championship 2021: With Phil Mickelson's win at Kiawah, here are some of the milestones he accomplished
Patrick Smith
We can’t remember if it was Harry Vardon or Sam Snead who famously said, “Don’t count your chickens before their hatched.” And with 18 holes to play at the PGA Championship, there was still some hatching to come at the Ocean Course. But Phil Mickelson came through on Sunday, posting a final-round 73 to win by two shots and accomplish many things that people weren't sure Lefty could really pull off.
With Mickelson's victory, here are a handful of milestones that he achieved. If you didn't want to read this last night out of fear of jinxing Phil, you're fine to look now.
With a win at the PGA, Mickelson …
• Became, at age 50, the oldest golfer to win a major, breaking Julius Boros' previous record of being 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Championship at Pecan Valley in San Antonio.
• Claimed a sixth major championship, tying him with Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino for 12th on the all-time men’s list.
• Claimed a 45th PGA Tour victory, tying him with Walter Hagen for eighth on the all-time win list.
• Became the fourth player in PGA Tour history to win a tournament in four different decades (joining Sam Snead, Raymond Floyd and Davis Love III).
• Became the third player to win a PGA Tour event after previously winning a PGA Tour Champions event (joining Craig Stadler and Fred Funk).
• Became the lowest player in the World Ranking (115th) to win a major since Shaun Micheel at the 2003 PGA Championship (169th).
• Earrned the biggest paycheck ($2.16 million) of his 30-year PGA Tour career (previous biggest earnings was $1.7 million for his win at the 2018 WGC-Mexico).
• Saw his PGA Tour career earnings rise to $93.66 million. He's the only golfer other than Tiger Woods to have broken the $90 million career earning mark on tour.
• Has gone the longest time between wins of any multiple PGA Championship winner, having claimed his first title in 2005.
• Became the first player on the PGA Tour to have won a tournament 30 years after claiming his first tour victory.
• Earned an exemption into the U.S. Open through 2025.
MORE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP 2021 STORIES FROM GOLF DIGEST:
• PGA Championship 101—Everything you wanted to know about the major
• How to watch the PGA Championship on TV and streaming online
• The top 100 players at the PGA Championship, ranked
• Exclusive drone video tour of every hole at the Ocean Course
• 10 players who need a PGA win at Kiawah the most
• What the Ocean Course teaches you about playing a difficult golf course
• 5 essential questions to be answered at Kiawah
• 13 things you probably don’t remember about the 2012 PGA at Kiawah
• The rowdy 1991 Ryder Cup at Kiawah—an oral history
• The most ‘PGA’ moments in PGA Championship history