Remember When He Couldn't Win One?

He used to have the dreaded title of "Best Player Never to Win a Major." He used to be in the hunt only to collapse on Sunday afternoon, or have the great Tiger Woods run him down. Not anymore. Phil Mickelson has gotten that monkey off of his back in a major way. The man who used to be futile in Major Championship Golf has now won 3 of the past 9 Majors (those events being The Masters, The U.S. Open, The British Open, and the PGA Championship), after winning his second Masters on Sunday, his other Major is last years PGA Championship. Because of the way the schedule is set up, Mickelson has won two Majors in a row, and is halfway to completing something that only Tiger Woods and Bobby Jones have done. That is winning the Grand Slam. Well, it wouldn't be the true Grand Slam because it didn't happen in a calendar year (the same thing happened for Woods), but he would hold all four major championships at the same time if he can win the U.S. Open and the British Open. When Woods accomplished the feat everyone dubbed it the "Tiger Slam," I wonder if Phil Mickelson will get the same honor if he accomplishes the feat.

Having Mickelson winning majors is great for the sport of golf. It puts him in an elite group with Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen as the current best players in the game. If you tune into a Sunday round of Major Championship golf, you will most likely see one if not more of these names on the leaderboard's top 10. More importantly Phil Mickelson has always been part of a fan-favorite two-some with Tiger Woods, all that they have left to do is go head-to-head in the final pairing of a Major Championship on a Sunday afternoon. That would make for some great golf, and we could see what the two best players in the game do while walking side by side.

Publish Date: April 10 in the Missourian. Front Page of the Sports Section.