The Valhalla Golf Club hosts the PGA Championship for the fourth time in its history. The previous three were in 1996, 2000 and 2014. Only two players can boast of having been in all four editions. One is John Daly and the other is Phil Mickelson. Daly missed the cut here each of the three times, while Lefty has not dropped out of the top 10. His numbers at Valhalla are impressive. Yes, it seems crazy, but maybe not so much. Review with us…
Mickelson has played 12 rounds on the Kentucky course, of which ten were 70 strokes or less. His worst positions each day were a twentieth after the first of 2014 and an eleventh after the third of the year 2000. In the remaining ten rounds he was always among the top ten. Mickelson’s final results at Valhalla speak for themselves: 8th in 1996, 9th in the year 2000 and 2nd in 2014.
It is clear that it is a course that he likes, despite many changes and evolutions that have occurred in the last 28 years. It may seem crazy to put Mickelson in the case of the favourites, but maybe not so much. He has been the best player on this course and it is clear that he is still in good shape. Just three years ago, in 2021, in his penultimate participation in the PGA Championship, he broke all records by winning the title at 50. Is it really absurd that he could repeat this week at 53? Really, if anyone can do it, it’s Phil. Let’s not forget that he was second in last year’s Masters.
There is no doubt that his victory on Sunday would be a huge surprise, but from there to label it as madness seems a bit daring, being who he is, seeing the form he is in and with the service record he presents at Valhalla and at the PGA Championship…
Because his numbers at the PGA are also stratospheric. He has played thirty editions of the tournament, has won two, has been in the top three five times, another five times among the top five and ten more times in the top 10. He has made 27 of 30 cuts, probably the most amazing fact, and has won just over six and a half million dollars. Only Brooks Koepka, with over nine million dollars in earnings, and Tiger Woods, above seven, have made more economic profit from the PGA of America.
With these data on the table, does it still seem crazy to you that Mickelson could win this week? Jon Rahm does not find Phil’s numbers at Valhalla so strange. “The truth is that I am not surprised that he also does well on this course, with the short game he has, how creative he is, he gets out of any complicated situation. It doesn’t matter where you put him. On courses where the ball doesn’t roll much like here and the greens are receptive, someone with his talent is always going to be able to make pars and play well. As soon as he hits two or three streets he’s going to do very well. He’s also done well at Bethpage and it’s similar to this course, similar at least in quotes”.
