This article was originally published in 2019 – It’s still a good read
The greatest short game exponent in modern day golf has to be Phil Mickelson, I can’t think of anybody I know who wouldn’t pay money to watch this guy play.
Every now and then stories emerge about just how good this guy is and the one below is no different and told by U.S. Open Champion Lucas Glover in his own words.
I was playing with Phil and Ian Poulter, and none of us were hitting it really good, but we were all getting it up and down a good bit. Ian and Phil missed a couple of greens in the same spot, and both got ’em down with unbelievable shots. We’re walking up to 18 and I said to Ian, while Phil was walking a little ahead of us, ‘I don’t know, I might take you over Phil in a short game, you know?’ He kind of laughs and goes, ‘I don’t know about that.’
We all missed the 18th green and had similar flop shots. I hit mine in the bunker. Poulter hit his about 15 feet past. Phil hit the famous Phil flop — lands on an upslope, spins up the hill, trickles down to, like, six or eight inches. Poulter winks at me and goes, ‘He’s still got me.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, he’s got everybody.’”
Sometimes even the pros have to acknowledge that someone is superior to them, especially around the greens.
Bob James PGA