Fore King Golf

Chronicles of a Champion Golfer: Phil Mickelson

Steve

Prior to 2004, it is fair to say few people would have marked Phil Mickelson down as a future Open Champion, not even the man himself.

However, the year that featured Mickelson’s long-awaited first major triumph at The Masters, was also notable for a significant breakthrough at golf’s original Championship. Although ‘Lefty’ registered a remarkable 17 top-10 finishes in majors prior to his first success at Augusta, not a single one of those came in The Open.

Mickelson may have been enamoured by the unique challenge of links golf, having grown up idolising three-time Champion Golfer of the Year Seve Ballesteros, but he initially found his own game ill-suited to conditions on the coasts of the British Isles.

“It wasn’t until I was in high school, and I remember watching Seve get really excited (at St Andrews in 1984), that I started having dreams of winning The Open Championship,” recalled Mickelson in his Chronicles of a Champion Golfer film.

Steve King of Fore King Golf

Steve King

Steve King is a UK based golf blogger, who shares online golf coaching that he created with his good friend Richard Lawless (PGA Professional)

Steve plays most of his golf in his home county of Wiltshire, in the UK. Read more about Steve