News

Mickelson Repeats at Nothern Trust Open

Published

17 years ago

Feb 23, 2009

Phil Mickelson brought both iterations of himself to the Northern Trust Open, displaying them proudly over the four day tournament. Day one saw the player in control of his amazing talents as he carded a 63. Day two who showed up but the player with the amazing talent but uses it in an imitation of Bozo the Clown. Hello mediocre 72. Saturday Mr. Mickelson eagles the first hole and proceeds to stroll around the grounds in a mere 62 strokes acquiring a four stroke lead along the way. This is a position from which he’s never lost a tournament he has to like his chances.

Sunday; final group; playing with good buddy Fred Couples and Andres Romero, Mr. Mickelson eagles the first hole giving the impression that the Thursday/Saturday golfer is on the grounds. Somewhere between the first green and the second tee the Bozo impersonator showed up to stick five bogeys on the scorecard over the next 13 holes. Gulp! Five shot lead is now a two shot deficit.

Steve Stricker, who began the day six shots behind Mr. Mickelson, shot a 32 on the front nine and birdied the 11th and 12th holes. Standing on the 17th tee, with a two shot lead I wonder how much the events of the Bob Hope when three wayward tee shots on the 10th hole lead to a quadruple bogey? The tee shot went left into the trees, but still left him with a shot towards the green. A wedge to 12 feet and a makable birdie putt for a three shot advantage was there for the taking. Unfortunately, that putt needed another revolution to reach the hole. Disappointment. Another hooked tee shot on the 18th hole left Mr. Stricker with a downhill sidehill lie, from which he could only advance the ball to the right side of the green. Mediocre is too mild a word for his chip, which he left 12 feet from the hole. Another missed putt and his round of 67 putt him in the clubhouse at 14 under par.

Fred Couples, who is 49 years old and marking time until Champions Tour eligibility, had the best chances of the day to catch and pass Mr. Mickelson. As has been the case in recent years Mr. Couples was done in by a putter that refused to cooperate. He missed a 3 foot par putt on the fourth hole and birdies from 8 feet on the 6th, 6 feet on the 7th, and just inside 15 feet on the 8th hole. And he still had a chance coming up the 18th fairway. He completely fanned his second shot into the trees on the right and finished at 13 under par.

As Mr. Mickelson stood on the 16th tee, I’m thinking, okay buddy boy lets see what you got because if this goes poorly I may have to vote you for the biggest choke job of this century. From somewhere inside himself, in a place I wasn’t sure he had access to, Mr. Mickelson stuffed a 155 yard nine iron to five feet and made the putt. Good play there, but there are still two tee shots to hit. On the 17th tee he blasted a drive into the fairway from which his three wood reached the green. Two putts for a birdie and a one shot lead heading to the 18th tee. Again the tee shot is in the fairway, but the second shot is right of the green a bit. A chip to six feet and a putt and gone are the thoughts of choker Phil.

“It gives me confidence and something to build on for the rest of the year,” Mickelson said. “Even when I didn’t have my best stuff, I was able to fight through it. That meant a lot to me. I certainly have some work to do. But at least I’m on the right path, the right direction. And I’m having some success now, even without maybe my best stuff.”

Congratulations to Mr. Mickelson on his win, and to Mr. Stricker and Mr. Couples on fine performances for the week. Now we all await the return of Tiger Woods. There has been exciting golf while he’s been gone. It will get even better now.

News

WITB Time Machine: Phil Mickelson’s winning WITB, 2021 PGA Championship

Published

4 days ago

May 13, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Phil Mickelson made history at the 2021 PGA Championship on Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course. At 50, he became the oldest player to win a major, breaking Julius Boros’s record. Starting the final round with a slim lead, Lefty faced tough competition from Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen. He pulled ahead with key birdies and a standout 366-yard drive on the 16th hole. Finishing 6 under par and two shots ahead, Mickelson claimed his sixth major and second PGA Championship. Many saw his win as an inspiring comeback, showing that experience and determination can still lead to victory in professional golf — and, sometimes, age is just a number.

Driver: Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond (6 degrees @5.5 , green dot cog)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X (47.9 inches)

2-wood: TaylorMade “Original One” Mini Driver (11.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

4-wood (Sunday only): Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Irons: Callaway X Forged UT (16) (Thursday-Saturday), Callaway X21 UT Proto (19 degrees @20.5, 25), Callaway Apex MB ‘21 (small groove) (6-PW)
Shafts: (16) MCA MMT 105 TX, KBS Tour V 125 S+

Wedges: Callaway PM Grind ’19 “Raw” (52-12@50, 55-12, 60-10)
Shafts: KBS Tour V 125 S+

Putter: Odyssey Milled Blade “Phil Mickelson”
Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT Tour

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X (Triple Track)

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

More photos of Phil Mickelson’s WITB here.

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

6 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

6 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.