My two cents: Mickelson's 1991 Tucson triumph helped launch career
Thursday was the 25th anniversary of Phil Mickelson’s stunning victory at the 1991 Tucson Open. Stunning? He was an amateur, a senior at Arizona State.
Mickelson did not get a penny of the $180,000 winner’s check at what was then called TPC Starpass. Now 45, Mickelson has won 42 championships, including two Masters and the British Open.
What I most remember about Mickelson’s weekend at what is now called Starr Pass — a new nine holes, designed by Arnold Palmer, has since been added to the course — is that he had a triple-bogey 8 at the long, uphill par-5 on Sunday afternoon. And still won.
On Thursday, Mickelson told Golf Channel that he was not surprised by his victory in Tucson.
“I wrote down my goals for (1991) and put them in a vase and then we were going to open them a year later,” he said. “I had forgotten that I had written this down, but one of the three goals that I had written for 1991 was to win the Tucson Open.”
Mickelson, who would later win the 1995 and 1996 Tucson Open, was not without nervous anticipation the night before the ’91 finals.
“I remember walking around the hotel parking lot by myself, thinking how this could affect my career and the opportunities I might have,” he said. “I think it turned out pretty good.”
Pretty good? Mickelson has gone on to win more than $84 million in prize money alone.
