by Darren Moore
Phil Mickelson created history on Sunday when, at the age of 50, he became the oldest major winner as he held off the challenge of fellow American Brooks Koepka and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen to take the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island on Sunday.
He took the record of oldest winner from Julius Boros, who won this title in 1968 at the age of 48.
How it happened
Mickelson won with a score of six under par to finish two shots clear at the Ocean Course. The victory was a sixth major title for ‘Lefty’, but a first for eight years following his win at the 2013 Open at Muirfield.
It was made all the more memorable for Mickelson (who actually turns 51 next month) by the return of thousands of fans to the course after the COVID-19 pandemic, many of whom swamped the ever-popular Mickelson as he made his way up to the 18th green.
Prior to his win at Kiawah Island, Mickelson had fallen to No. 115 in the world (having dropped out of the top 100 in the world earlier this year for the first time since 1993) and hadn’t won a tournament in more than two years or even registered a top 20 finish in nine months.
Another significant milestone that Mickelson achieved was in becoming the first player in PGA Tour history to win tournaments 30 years apart. While still a junior at Arizona State, Mickelson had won the first of his 45 titles way back in 1991.
US Open Betting
The next goal for Lefty is to try and become the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam at next month’s US Open. Bovada’s golf odds currently has him at +4000. He would join an elite club consisting of Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
The omens are encouraging, with the tournament being held at Torrey Pines, a course Mickelson knows very well and where he has already won three titles. Lefty might not have finished rewriting the record books just yet.
View: Golf Futures Betting
* Us Open golf odds correct at the time of article publication. All betting odds are subject to changes.
Darren lives & breathes sports betting and is always sniffing out his next value bet. His favourite sports to bet on are the NFL, horse racing and UFC but he will bet on anything if he thinks the odds are favourable.
