AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Mickelson Wins 5th Title

We'll never really know where Phil Mickelson could've stood in the pantheon of all-time golf greats. In many ways, he was unfortunate to come along in the era of Tiger Woods, for obvious reasons. In other ways, he was very fortunate – purses increased exponentially thanks to Woods, and Mickelson is one of the richest athletes in the world.

In fact, by winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in a two-hole Monday finish, Mickelson surpassed $90 million in PGA Tour earnings. He's made a lot more than that in endorsements. But as for where he ranks among the sport's best, of which he surely is one, Mickelson's 44th career PGA Tour win moved him within one of Walter Hagen for eighth all-time. Then comes Billy Casper at 51, and any serious golf fan can name the top-six (but we'll name them later).

Mickelson has spoken often of his desire to reach 50 wins. That will be a monumental task, even for the best 48-year-old golfer there ever was. Last year at this time, it was a pipe dream. Then Mickelson won the WGC-Mexico to end a nearly five-year drought. At Pebble, he came from three shots down after 54 holes to overtake Paul Casey and win for the second time in less than a year.

Casey was ranked 24th in the world coming in; Mickelson, 29th. But Mickelson had Casey right where he wanted him: in the same pairing, right next to him. Casey is a very fine player, albeit one who has had trouble winning even on his best day. The site of Mickelson so close couldn't have helped. And knowing that Mickelson had won this tournament four previous times surely was not lost on the Englishman.

It all added up to a predictable finish, even one that started hours late and bled into Monday, thanks to some fierce rain and a hail storm on the Monterey Peninsula. After a mundane front nine, Mickelson birdied 10, Casey bogeyed 11 and 12, Mickelson birdied 13 and 14, and that was pretty much that, even though they got in only two more holes before darkness halted play.

Tellingly, Mickelson wanted to keep going toward his record-tying fifth win at this event, while Casey couldn't wait to call it a night. But the rules say, if one player wants to stop, they stop. Everyone else in the field finished on Sunday.

So even with two wins within the past year, 50 still seems next to impossible for Mickelson. There's no chance he heads to the Champions Tour in 16 months, so take that out of the equation. Can he win again this year, then once a year for five more years, taking him to age 53? What about a few multiple-win years? Barring a miracle renaissance, that would still take him into his 50s. Really, Mickelson has to realize that catching and surpassing Hagen probably is as far as he'll go.

Truth be told, Mickelson does not need to get to 50 to ensure his place in history. He of course also has five majors – and what a storyline it will be in four months when Mickelson returns to Pebble to try to win the one major he's never won, the U.S. Open. (Once again, Woods would loom large next to Mickelson, as he won the AT&T in 2000, then the U.S. Open at Pebble four months later.)

So where exactly does Mickelson stand in that pantheon? After Casper at 51 wins, there's Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer at 62, Ben Hogan at 64, Jack Nicklaus at 73, Woods at 80 and Sam Snead at 82. Of course, that's far from the only metric. You also must consider Bobby Jones, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen, Tom Watson and Seve Ballesteros. Mickelson by just about anyone's standards is top-15 all-time, and many would say top-10.

How many more wins, how many more majors would Mickelson have won had Woods not played in the same era?

As we said at the beginning, we'll never know. But no matter. Mickelson, doing incredible things against many golfers half his age, now ranked 17th in the world, has already secured his place in that pantheon.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Paul Casey
It had to be hard for Casey to come back on Monday, knowing that he had lost the golf tournament on Sunday. But he admirably birdied the par-5 18th to secure solo runner-up. Casey is no youngster at age 41, and he is now up to No. 19 in the world – pretty dang impressive. We should also remember Casey's name come June, when the golf world returns to Pebble.

Scott Stallings
Stallings entered the week MC-T43-MC in 2019. He also entered the week with a T14 and T7 the past two years at Pebble Beach. He wound up solo third. We grapple with what counts more, current form or course history, and how much they count in relation to stats and advanced metrics. We've seen some instances this season where course history has clearly trumped current form. This was another example of that.

Jason Day
Day won the Wells Fargo last May, then tied for fifth the next week at The Players. He didn't get another top-five the rest of the season, a span of four months. Day tied for fifth at Pebble, and that's already his third top-five of this season. He's finished no worse than 13th in his five official starts. The fields haven't been great in the early going; they're about to get much harder starting this week. Day is not in the field at Riviera, but it will be interesting to see how he does against tougher competition.

Si Woo Kim
A final-hole bogey no doubt left a bad taste in Kim's mouth, but he turned in his best showing of the season with a tie for fourth. That gave Kim a second top-10 and a fourth top-25 on the season. He also has two other top-30s. One reason for his improved – and consistent – play is putting. The past two seasons, Kim was woeful, finishing outside the top-150 in strokes gained: putting. But we have to remember he is still only 23. This season, Kim entered Pebble ranked 34th. In his two measured rounds last week, he ranked … first.

Jim Furyk
There was another 48-year-old in the field besides Mickelson. Furyk, resuming his career after largely taking a year off to be the Ryder Cup captain, tied for 14th in his first start of 2019. In the fall, Furyk tied for sixth at Mayakoba (and also missed two cuts), so he has shown the ability to compete on shorter tracks, thereby bringing him into lineup conversations. Furyk is now up to 90th in the point standings. Not too shabby.

Cameron Champ
We normally don't bother with the FedEx Cup point standings too much this time of year, but it's very important to Champ. He tied for 28th at Pebble to slip from 10th to 11th in the standings. After next week, the top-10 qualify for the WGC-Mexico the following week. Champ is in the field at Riviera, and his game off the tee should help him there. But the rookie has come back to earth after winning and starring during the fall season. He opened 2019 at T73-MC-T67. It would be a very successful week for him to get back into the top-10.

Jordan Spieth
Through 13 holes on Saturday, Spieth was tied for the lead. He doubled 14, doubled 18, then turned in a 75 on Sunday. He tied for 45th. So were the two and a half rounds of excellence an aberration? Or was it a case of Spieth starting to find his game but it's still not at the point where he can string together four quality rounds? On Saturday, we were leaning toward the latter. With a little more hindsight, we're thinking maybe the former.

Dustin Johnson
Johnson is in the mix almost every year at Pebble. But this year, he arrived having just completed (and won), half a world away in Saudi Arabia. We didn't expect a tie for 45th, but Johnson's schedule had to factor into things. Presumably, his body clock will be back on track by the time he gets to Riviera, another course at which he excels.

Shane Lowry
Lowry came Stateside with a recent European Tour win that landed him atop the Race to Dubai standings and with high hopes to make a splash as we near the bigger worldwide tournaments. Instead, the Irishman, who had made four straight cuts at Pebble, missed the cut rather easily. Along with Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick also missing the cut, they showed that starring in Europe doesn't mean much once they cross the Atlantic.

Ho-Sung Choi
Some questioned whether the South Korean merited a sponsor exemption, thinking he was more of a freak show than a golfer. But Choi was ranked in the top-200 in the world, better than many guys who were already in the field. He didn't make the cut, closing badly with a 77 on Saturday. But by all accounts he was a pleasure to play with and a great guy, smiling all the way, even through a back-nine 41 to close out his week. That type of player is good for golf.