News
Phil Mickelson to miss the U.S. Open to attend daughter’s graduation
If you’re mulling over your U.S. Open punts, remove Phil Mickelson from your consideration. Lefty announced he doesn’t plan on teeing it up at Erin Hills. The reason? His daughter Amanda is graduating from high school—and she’s giving the commencement address.
The Pacific Ridge School’s commencement ceremony is scheduled for the morning of June 15, which is during the first round of the U.S. Open.
He’s yet to withdraw officially, but as Mickelson said, “barring something unforeseen, I won’t be there.” “Something unforeseen,” would be a situation like a washed out first round with the opening round of play beginning on Friday—a remote possibility indeed.
“I wanted to make sure they [the USGA] had enough notice to accommodate it…So that’s why I’m saying something today, but it doesn’t look good for me playing. But I’m really excited about this moment in our family’s life,” Mickelson told reporters.
Mickelson hasn’t missed a major championship since the 2009 Open Championship when his wife was battling cancer. He’ll turn 47 during the tournament at Erin Hills, his long, unfortunate history of runner-up finishes at the U.S. Open is well documented.
Still, even with Father Time starting at Mickelson through the rearview, he seems comfortable with his decision to skip the championship.
Regarding the graduation, Mickelson said: It’s one of those things you just show up. You just need to be there. It wasn’t really something that we discussed, because it really wasn’t much of a decision.”
Like his history of near-misses at the USGA’s major, Mickelson’s series of scheduling conflicts during the tournament is part of “Lefty the family man” lore. He wore a beeper at Pinehurst in 1999, as his wife was on the verge of giving birth. At the 2012 U.S. Open, Mickelson flew home for Amanda’s eighth-grade graduation, catching a flight back just in time for the opening round.
And speaking of Amy, here’s what she told Karen Crouse about her husband’s decision. “Phil desperately wants to win the U.S. Open. “I would have totally understood if he needed to play…We could have done a video or this or that.”
A “video or this or that” isn’t something Phil Mickelson, the father, is comfortable with. Even the left-handers detractors have to respect that.
With the second major of 2026 now behind us, the PGA Tour arrives in Texas for the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
GolfWRX Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, is on site at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, and he’s already captured several WITBs and a look at some new colorways of just-spotted L.A.B. Golf VZN.1i putters.
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See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
Aaron Rai upset the odds to win his first major championship on Sunday at Aronimink, firing a final round of 5-under par to see off his competitors and claim the winner’s check for $3,690,000.
Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley were the best of the chasing pack, with both men sharing runner-up spot which was good enough for each to receive a check for $1,804,000.
With a total prize purse of $20.5 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 PGA Championship.
Players who missed the PGA Championship cut each received $4,300 each.
1: Aaron Rai, $3,690,000
T2 : Jon Rahm, $1,804,000
T2 : Alex Smalley, $1,804,000
T4: Justin Thomas, $843,866
T4: Ludvig Aberg, $843,866
T4: Matti Schmid, $843,866
T7: Cameron Smith, $637,050
T7: Rory McIlroy, $637,050
T7: Xander Schauffele, $637,050
T10: Kurt Kitayama, $496,707
T10: Chris Gotterup, $496,707
T10: Justin Rose, $496,707
T10: Patrick Reed, $496,707
T14: Matt Fitzpatrick, $364,762
T14: Scottie Scheffler, $364,762
T14: Max Greyserman, $364,762
T14: Ben Griffin, $364,762
T18: Maverick McNealy, $229,128
T18: Jordan Spieth, $229,128
T18: Stephan Jaeger, $229,128
T18: Padraigh Harrington, $229,128
T18: David Puig, $229,128
T18: Harris English, $229,128
T18: Min Woo Lee, $229,128
T18: Joaquin Niemann, $229,128
T26: Nick Taylor, $125,523
T26: Alex Noren, $125,523
T26: Cameron Young, $125,523
T26: Andrew Novak, $125,523
T-26: Daniel Hiller, $125,523
T26: Tom Hoge, $125,523
T26: Sam Burns, $125,523
T26: Hideki Matsuyama, $125,523
T26: Bud Cauley, $125,523
T35: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, $78,805
T35: Patrick Cantlay, $78,805
T35: Ryo Hisatsune, $78,805
T35: Daniel Berger, $78,805
T35: Ryan Fox, $78,805
T35: Haotong Li, $78,805
T35: Aldrich Potgieter, $78,805
T35: Si Woo Kim, $78,805
T35: Martin Kaymer, $78,805
T44: Chris Kirk, $53,743
T44: Matt Wallace, $53,743
T44: Shane Lowry, $53,743
T44: Jhonattan Vegas, $53,743
T44: Denny McCarthy, $53,743
T44: Chandler Blachet, $53,743
T44: Taylor Pendrith, $53,743
T44: Dustin Johnson, $53,743
T44: Nicolai Hojgaard, $53,743
T44: Michael Kim, $53,743
T44: Kristoffer Reitan, $53,743
T55: Collin Morikawa, $34,186
T55: Corey Conners, $34,186
T55: Andrew Putnam, $34,186
T55: Brooks Koepka, $34,186
T55: Mikael Lindberg, $34,186
T60: Sami Valimaki, $29,218
T60: Sahith Theegala, $29,218
T60: Rico Hoey, $29,218
T60: Rickie Fowler, $29,218
T60: Brian Harman, $29,218
T65: Casey Jarvis, $26,900
T65: Jason Day, $26,900
T65: Rasmus Hojgaard, $26,900
T65: Keith Mitchell, $26,900
T65: Sam Stevens, $26,900
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Mad-Mex
Jun 8, 2017 at 9:01 pm
I bet those who disagree and are bagging on Phil are the same drunk morons who yell “Mash Potato” “Ba-baboey” after a player hit his drive.
Sam
Jun 6, 2017 at 7:13 pm
Phil should donate some money and have them move the graduation to Saturday so he can do both
Jalan
Jun 10, 2017 at 3:23 pm
Yeah, right. Make every other parent and child change their plans, so the celebrity golfer can have his cake and eat it too.
Dave R
Jun 6, 2017 at 9:22 am
Family first . You only have one of them. Could not agree more. Good on him.
Taylor
Jun 5, 2017 at 8:57 pm
She’s obviously smart enough to realize it’s the US OPEN the only major your father hasn’t won in his life long journey in golf. Remember when you looked back at high school and realized what a joke it was…
Juice
Jun 6, 2017 at 3:57 pm
So because it was a joke for you his daughter should consider it a joke? You must’ve been the joke. SMH. Good for you Phil!
leo vincent
Jun 5, 2017 at 4:55 pm
Not something I would have done considering he only has a few more competitive U.S Opens left but the decision is his and other people’s opinions are meaningless
Bishop
Jun 5, 2017 at 12:30 pm
I completely agree with Phil’s decision, even though I’m not personally a father, yet. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his daughter, and she has obviously worked incredibly diligently for her own accomplishments, even in high school. It seems to me that Phil is cognizant of this accomplishment, and I can’t describe how proud I’d be of being able to see my own child give a commencement speech. Maybe he feels that he could be a competitor in another year at the US Open, or maybe he doesn’t feel it’s important because he doesn’t think he can get the W. Or, maybe he doesn’t care, because family is more important to him than another year at the US Open….
Kudos to him.
Tom54
Jun 5, 2017 at 12:08 pm
Seems to me if the High School scheduled the ceremony on a Thursday and not on the weekend then they certainly can up it to Wednesday. I agree that Phil could make a donation in his daughters honor to the school things would work out fine. If they change the date for you Phil, then you best contend
Brian
Jun 5, 2017 at 12:02 pm
I understand him missing the Open given that his daughter is speaking. If she were just walking…I mean…you’re expected to graduate HS.
DaveT
Jun 5, 2017 at 11:30 am
I’m not a Phil fan at all, but I have huge respect for this decision. I can’t understand the people who put it down. His daughter is class president and valedictorian! That’s big! It’s not something you get in a box of cereal. I wonder how many of the haters came close to a shot at valedictorian themselves.
Jeff
Jun 5, 2017 at 9:23 am
He should just make a sizable donation to the HS to have them move the whole graduation ceremony. Win-win, the HS gets some extra funds and Phil gets to play in the open.
Jalan
Jun 10, 2017 at 3:26 pm
How does every other family “Win”? What if they have plans they can’t change for some wealthy privileged golfer?
Ronald Montesano
Jun 5, 2017 at 9:02 am
If Phil never wins a US Open, he’ll be in pretty solid company with 3-Major Champions. Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Nancy Lopez, Lee Trevino, Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson, to list six. Can’t fault the guy, can’t fault the school, bravo for the daughter, onward and upward. Lavaplatos.
High Cut
Jun 5, 2017 at 1:20 am
Is there a tonne of dogleg-rights?
setter02
Jun 4, 2017 at 7:35 pm
Lol, the haters are strong with this one! And, pathetic…
Mad-Mex
Jun 4, 2017 at 6:28 pm
I think those who are against his decision are not or have not been fathers.
Jalan
Jun 10, 2017 at 3:27 pm
I’m not convinced they’re even adults.
Tyler
Jun 4, 2017 at 5:20 pm
Guys come on. His daughter is speaking at her high school graduation. You’re telling me you’d miss that if you were him? That’s a bad life mistake. This should be common sense.
Rwj
Jun 4, 2017 at 6:26 pm
Then why didn’t he actually withdraw? Bc he hopes all the PR will cause the school to change? An actual good person wouldn’t have needed to tell everyone about it
Mad-Mex
Jun 4, 2017 at 6:40 pm
Serious?!?! Are YOU out of high school? “Why didn’t he withdraw? Because he hopes the school will change the date with all this media attention. A good person would not have the need to tell everyone about it,,,, notice the difference? Just one of the many examples the sentence structure can be changed.
Actually, a good person would respect another person’s decision.
Jasian Day
Jun 4, 2017 at 4:18 pm
It’s kinda sad when you think about it….
Phil and Amy have such spoiled bratty kids.
The “diva” of the family has to have daddy watch her achieve what millions of other people do every single year.
I pity the future husband. Whole new level of selfishness
K Unt
Jun 5, 2017 at 2:35 am
Why you so jealous?
BB
Jun 5, 2017 at 5:48 am
What a sad, pathetic post.
Big Richard Cox
Jun 5, 2017 at 7:18 am
I liked the post! Hit the nail on the head.
birdie
Jun 5, 2017 at 9:25 am
his daughter is giving the speech. She is the class president and the valedictorian. so many people with their opinions yet completely ignorant of the facts surrounding the situation.
ooffa
Jun 4, 2017 at 1:25 pm
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, did I read that right. High School? I could understand if it was graduation from the doctorate program at Harvard or M.I.T. But high school! Go play tournament. Do your job!
birdie
Jun 5, 2017 at 9:26 am
yeah…class president and the valedictorian. giving a speech. i’d want to watch my kid graduate
ooffa
Jun 5, 2017 at 10:12 am
Sounds like she’s a real smart kid. She more than anyone should therefore understand why her Dad should play in the US Open.
SH
Jun 4, 2017 at 10:28 am
He da best
Progolfer
Jun 4, 2017 at 10:18 am
Nice gesture by Phil, but an even nicer gesture would be if his daughter forced her father to chase his dream– something I’m sure Phil encourages her and her siblings to do– of winning the US Open. Imagine the spark that would give Phil. He unexpectedly won the Masters when his wife was batting breast cancer. His daughter has a tremendous opportunity to give her father the greatest gift she ever could. If only she did and he went on to win the Grand Slam because of it!! That would complete his career in style.
stephen Harasti
Jun 4, 2017 at 10:01 am
The course must not setup well for him
Golferguy
Jun 4, 2017 at 9:42 am
He’s a good Dad.
Jasian Day
Jun 4, 2017 at 1:46 pm
Not to that one kid in Ohio or wherever
Jasian Day
Jun 4, 2017 at 9:24 am
It ain’t like he was gonna win or anything
Mad-Mex
Jun 4, 2017 at 5:10 am
This should be getting more news coverage than Tiger Woods
Wonder who is the low life who shanked this?
Wonder if he will have the backbone to admit it?
Jasian Day
Jun 4, 2017 at 9:23 am
I will
Ben
Jun 6, 2017 at 9:56 am
Shank
Family Guy
Jun 4, 2017 at 5:07 am
Incredibly unselfish act!
E
Jun 4, 2017 at 1:54 am
Awwwwww…. isn’t that special.