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Phil Mickelson showed everyone one more time
Photo: FIRS MAURY / EPA
How has golf changed? In the past, it wasn't about fitness, but about good nerves, courage and a particularly fine hand.
Some champions looked like they would be at the grill and have a few beers instead of spending their time in the gym and then pouring protein shakes into them to make the muscles grow.
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Bryson Dechambeau, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson: fantastic golfers, stunning athletes and major champions.
One could get the impression that there was no longer any room for another type of golfer on the winners' podium at the big tournaments, displaced by such muscles.
Koepka was once again at the forefront when the Wanamaker Trophy, the challenge cup of the PGA Championship, was played on the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island on the Atlantic coast of South Carolina over the past four days.
The fittest Mickelson that ever was
The fact that the 31-year-old was defeated by Phil Mickelson, who was almost 20 years his senior, is no proof that athleticism in golf is overrated.
Rather the opposite.
Mickelson may not be the fittest 50-year-old in the world.
But he's probably the fittest Mickelson ever.
In the past few years it has changed: it was a somewhat plump and awkward-looking crowd favorite with an indescribable feel for the ball around the green.
Now he's a health fanatic with aviator sunglasses, thick upper arms and chiseled calves that he loves to show off on social media.
With his sixth major triumph, the Californian crowned himself the oldest player to win one of the four major tournaments.
This victory ranks in the category of greatest sensations on par with the Masters victories of Tiger Woods in 2019 after comeback and of Jack Nicklaus in 1986 at the age of 46.
Triumphs that really shouldn't have happened anymore.
In 1991 he celebrated his first triumph
In January 1991 Mickelson won the PGA Tour for the first time as a 20-year-old amateur.
Brooks Koepka was nine months old then.
After that, Mickelson had 44 more PGA Tour victories, eleven trophies on the European Tour, the aforementioned major triumphs.
He was a member of the US Ryder Cup team twelve times (three wins) and was inducted into the Hall of Fame of his sport in 2012.
As an over 50s, he is now allowed to play on the Champions Tour, where the old stars are still playing for considerable sums.
There, too, he has won twice.
With his six wins, Mickelson draws level with Nick Faldo and Lee Trevino and has even overtaken legends like Severiano Ballesteros. To assert oneself for 30 years in a sport in which nuances and subtleties are so important that world-class players sometimes suddenly disappear and never be seen again because of small changes to their swing - that is quite an achievement. Mickelson's career, however, is a total work of art, the cups and trophies are just the framework around it.
There are so many anecdotes about no other player, so many moments in which, as a spectator on site or on the screen, you had the feeling of getting an unadulterated insight into the inner workings of this athlete.
The super talented, the Woods adversary, the gamer who is supposed to play for six-figure sums with buddies.
He can afford it at around $ 94 million in career prize money.
Mickelson has always allowed closeness
Tiger Woods, who appeared on TV as a toddler, is the bigger star, but little is known about the people behind the global brand. Woods sealed his insides off early on. Mickelson, on the other hand, always let people get close to him and was never one of those golf robots who seemingly dispassionately reel off their shots. He is known for fulfilling every autograph request with the patience of an angel, posing for photos and briefly talking to his fans.
Mickelson has always created closeness, in real life and also on social networks, where he regularly posts videos. Mickelson drinking coffee, Mickelson dancing, Mickelson with Christmas greetings. So he always remained in conversation, even when things slowly went downhill in terms of sport. In 2013 Mickelson won The Open Championship again, which was a surprise even then. After that, his game got even wilder than before. He hit the balls all over the place and even his spectacular short game couldn't save him. Before the tournament now in South Carolina, he was a 200-1 underdog.
Especially on this course, long and with nasty obstacles, Mickelson did not believe anyone would win.
But he played well, often hitting the balls further than his much younger opponents and gradually pushed himself forward.
Even before the final round, however, the experts were certain: Mickelson lacks the stamina for another 18 good holes.
But Mickelson continued to play, not without a mistake, but without major slip-ups - and with a typical Mickelson stroke: on the fifth hole, a par 3, his first stroke landed in the bunker.
His shot from the sand hit the right track and rolled into the hole for a birdie.
The fans, who were allowed to visit the facility in large numbers again this time, screamed with enthusiasm.
On the first nine holes of the final round, the lead changed from time to time between Mickelson and Koepka.
Then the period of greatest pressure began - and Mickelson held up best.
On the tenth runway, his approach landed four meters from the flag.
Mickelson punched for birdie, while Koepka and the South African Louis Oosthuizen, who also played within striking distance, each played bogie.
This cushion was enough for Mickelson to bring victory to the finish line.
One of the most extraordinary triumphs in the history of the sport.