May 24, 2021
680 THE FAN, ATLANTA – That was fun to see Phil Mickelson walking up 18 with all the gallery around him on the way to his PGA Championship win. It was a sight that golf fans haven’t gotten in at least a couple of years. 

Phil is still one of the fan favorites. But, he is not the Phil that golf fans came to love over the years. 

He’s 50 and about to turn 51. He hadn’t won since taking Pebble Beach in 2019. Phil also needed a special exemption to be a part of this year’s US Open field in his home city of San Diego, Ca. 

It would seem that Phil’s better days were behind him. He’s almost like Eddie Money in the song ‘I Wanna Go Back.’ The chorus of the song for those who aren’t familiar… 

“I want to go back

And do it all over

But I can’t go back I know

I want to go back

‘Cause I’m feeling so much older

But I can’t go back I know.”

That probably was a little bit of that feeling with Phil. He’s a competitor. He has 45 PGA Tour wins and five major titles heading into this weekend. However, we all want to end what we’ve started on our terms. 

So, Phil took it into his own hands. He’s taken control of his health, by getting himself into the best physical shape he’s ever been in his playing career. All weekend long the CBS broadcast crew talked about his mental approach and working on that part of his game. 

Phil is an example to all of us. It’s never too late to change and improve. Maybe some of us want to take control of our physical health. Do it. You can. Maybe we want to get back to playing a sport we did at a younger age? Go do it. 

Given the last year plus that we’ve had to go through, we needed Sunday at Kiawah Island. It continues to remind us why we needed sports to come back and why we’re glad it returned. The crowds, the storylines and success stories are what we love to see.