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Mickelson will play his 12th consecutive
Presidents Cup when he tees up at Liberty National on Thursday
against an International team from the rest of the world,
excluding Europe.
He has not missed a Ryder Cup either since his debut in 1995,
which means he will make his 23rd team appearance for the red,
white and blue, a remarkable record not just of sustained
excellence, but also of having avoided serious injury.
He had to rely on a wild card pick by captain Steve Stricker
this year, something few would begrudge him.
“It’s one of the things I’m most proud of, to continue to be a
part of this,” the 47-year-old Californian said on Tuesday.
While some observers think the Presidents Cup needs the
International team to win occasionally to boost the status of
the event, Mickelson does not quite see it that way.
“I don’t think so, no,” he said when the question was posed. “If
you look at the talent on the International team, it is strong
and it is deep and if we open the door and give them an
opportunity it will bite us.”
Mickelson has won five major championships, and probably would
have captured considerably more if his career had not coincided
with that of Tiger Woods.
“He’s Phil Mickelson for a reason but I think I lot of people
don’t realize how good he is,” said Australian Jason Day, a
member of the International team.
“I think Tiger kind of overshadows his career a little bit. If
there was no Tiger, I wonder have many times Phil probably would
have won.
Day described Mickelson as “one of the best players that ever
lived” and expressed awe at his longevity as a player in the
Presidents Cup since it started in 1994.
“That is probably one of the best accomplishments you could
have, because it means you were consistent from 1994 all the way
up to 2017. That’s hard to do.”
(Reporting by Andrew Both)
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