Phil Mickelson Carreer

Early professional career
Mickelson turned pro in 1992 following his graduation. He was able to bypass the Tour's qualifying process (Q-School) because of his 1991 Tucson win, which earned him a two-year exemption. He continued to win many PGA Tour tournaments, including the Byron Nelson Golf Classic and the World Series of Golf in 1996, the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1998, theColonial National Invitation in 2000 and the Greater Hartford Open in 2001 and again in 2002. He also won the Buick Invitational in 2000, defeating Tiger Woods and ending his streak of consecutive tournament victories at six. After his win, Mickelson said, "I didn't want to be the bad guy. I wasn't trying to end the streak per se. I was just trying to win the golf tournament."[4]
Mickelson has beencapable of scoring very low for many seasons. He scored a career-low 59 for 18 holes, at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at Poipu Bay Golf Course in Hawaii, on November 24, 2004.
Mickelson's game has been characterized by his powerful but often inaccurate full swing, but even more so by his excellent short game, and most of all his daring "Phil flop" shot, in which a big swing with a high-lofted wedgeagainst a tight lie flies a ball high into the air for a short distance. His putting has been usually excellent since turning pro.
Despite these accomplishments, for many years Mickelson was often described as the "best golfer never to win a major".[5] Mickelson often played well in majors: in the five-year span between 1999 and 2003, he had six second-place or third-place finishes, and he holdsthe record for the most second-place finishes in U.S. Open history with five.
Since early 1993, Mickelson's caddy has been Jim "Bones" Mackay.[6] Mickelson has a lifetime exemption on the PGA Tour, for being a tour member for over 15 years and having 20 plus tour victories. Mickelson has spent over 700 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings [7] and has been ranked in the finaltop 10 every year since 1996. Despite his success, Mickelson has never held the World #1 ranking.[8][9]
[edit] 2004–06: First three major wins
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Mickelson at the Open Championship (2006).Mickelson's first major championship win came at the 2004 Masters, where he won with an 18-foot final hole birdie putt, defeating Ernie Els in a Sunday back-nine duel in which the two traded birdies and eagles back and forth. In addition to getting the "majors monkey" off his back, this made him only the third golfer with a left-handed swing to win a major, the others being New Zealander Sir BobCharles who won the The Open Championship in 1963 and Canadian Mike Weir who won The Masters in 2003. (Like Mickelson, Weir is a right-hander who plays left-handed.)
Just prior to the 2004 Ryder Cup, Mickelson was dropped from his long-standing contract with Titleist/Acushnet Golf, when he took heat for a voicemail message he left for a Callaway Golf executive. In it, he praised their driver and golfball and thanked them for their help in getting some equipment for his brother. This memo was played to all of their salesmen, and eventually found its way back to Titleist. He was then let out of his multi-year deal with Titleist 16 months early, and signed on with Callaway Golf, his current equipment sponsor. He endured a great deal of ridicule and scrutiny from the press and fellow Ryder Cupmembers for his equipment change so close to the Ryder Cup matches. He faltered at the 2004 Ryder Cup, going 1-3-0, but refused to blame the sudden change in equipment or his practice methods for his performance.[10]
The following year, in a Monday final round conclusion forced by weather, Mickelson captured his second career major championship with his victory at the 2005 PGA Championship at...