Phil just had more guts than the rest

He might be a 43-year-old Open Champion, but it was a ‘new’ Phil Mickelson who won at Muirfield.

That’s the opinion of Paul Azinger, who was a runner-up to Nick Faldo when the event was staged at the East Lothian links in 1987.

“Since he was a kid, Phil always wanted to play the most difficult shots,” says the former US PGA champion.

“He toned it down last week, even to the extent of leaving his driver out of the bag in all four rounds.

“He is an intelligent player. But while he weighs up the odds, he is a risk taker.

“Phil was once asked the difference between a great shot and a smart shot. He replied: ‘A great shot is when you pull it off, a smart shot is when you don’t have the guts to try it.’

“He tried plenty of them at Muirfield and made plenty of them. So while I may not agree with his outlook, he obviously looks at it differently from me so maybe that is why he has won 40-odd times!

“For Phil to come back after the disappointment of finishing runner-up at a sixth US Open to win the Open Championship was unbelievable.

“It showed real intestinal fortitude, if I can put it that way, and was great to see. He owned the golf course on Sunday.”

Azinger is adamant that even at 43, Mickelson is far from finished.

“Phil is the total package now, with both tremendous power and a great touch,” he says.

“He understands the mental part of the game, too, having studied psychology at university.”

Mickelson left a stellar cast in his wake last Sunday, in much the same way as Azinger when he won his only Major in 1993 ahead of Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Vijay Singh and Tom Watson.

The 53-year-old ABC pundit contends that Mickelson now deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as players like Seve Ballesteros and Byron Nelson, who also won five Majors.

“Great players hit great shots, and Mickelson’s second at the 17th, 302 yards into the wind to a small target surrounded by trouble, was a spectacular shot,” says Azinger. “It will go down as one of the greatest three woods ever hit.

“It ranks alongside the shot he played off the pine straw at the 13th when he won his third Green Jacket at Augusta in 2010.”

Mickelson’s demeanor also impressed Azinger. “Tom Watson said he didn’t know how to win until he learned to control his breathing,” he continues. “You have to be conscious of your pace in these situations.

“It is the only way to slow down your heart rate while you are walking, so it was great to see Phil sucking in some air.”

Whilst admitting Tiger Woods just did not play very well, Zinger had sympathy for Lee Westwood. “Nobody has had as many top three finishes as Lee,” he says.

“But this one probably hurt him as much as any, coming in front of his home crowd in what is the one he would want to win most.

“But it was Phil’s day. He was truly spectacular.”