That includes a missed 9-footer on No. 18, as he wins the event for the year's major champions.
By Associated Press
Published November 25, 2004
POIPU BEACH, Hawaii - Phil Mickelson shot 59 Wednesday to win the PGA Grand Slam of Golf, matching the lowest score in a high-level professional tournament.
Al Geiberger, Chip Beck and David Duval are the only players to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour, and Annika Sorenstam did it on the LPGA Tour. Mickelson's score will not count in the record books because the PGA Grand Slam, while sanctioned by the PGA Tour, is not an official tour event.
"It was certainly unexpected," said Mickelson, who hadn't touched a club for two weeks before the tournament at Poipu Bay Golf Course. "I didn't hit it great today and somehow I shot 59. So go figure. It just all kind of came together."
Shigeki Maruyama carded 58 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., in qualifying for the 2000 U.S. Open.
Mickelson barely missed a 9-foot eagle putt to the left on the last hole that would have given him 58. He tapped in for birdie and smiled as the gallery cheered.
"I just went out and just kind of played, and today the ball went in the hole," he said. "I don't really have an explanation for it."
Mickelson's 59 moved him from third place to first with a 17-under 127 total, which tied the course record and beat PGA champion Vijay Singh by five.
"Phil outplayed everybody - or outscored everybody," Singh said. "It was incredible. After about the 12th or 15th hole, we were just watching him."
Mickelson made 11 birdies, an eagle and no bogeys to win $400,000. He putted 24 times, including 11 on the front nine.
It was a spectacular way to end a season Mickelson won't forget. His victory at Augusta National allowed him to shed the label of "best player never to win a major," and he finished a close second in the U.S. Open, third in the British Open and tied for sixth in the PGA Championship.
Mickelson's competitive career low was 61 at the 2001 Greater Hartford Open. His season low was 63 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
Singh, the No. 1 player in the world, shot 66 and earned $250,000, and first-round leader and U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen closed with 68 to finish at 11-under. British Open champion Todd Hamilton finished last at 1-over 145 after 75.
Mickelson became just the third player to win the event since 1998. Last year Jim Furyk snapped Tiger Woods' record string of five straight Grand Slam wins. Woods didn't win a major this year, the requirement for this event.
Mickelson won with birdies on 13, 15, 16 and 18, but it was on the front nine where he surged. His tournament-record 28 included six birdies and an eagle. He broke Woods' mark of 30 set in 2000.
With his face caked in sunscreen, Mickelson was relaxed and loose throughout the round, chatting with his opponents and caddie Jim "Bones" McKay.
"C'mon Bones, let's see if we can make at least one putt today," Mickelson said with a smile while walking up to his short birdie attempt on No. 12. It was his seventh birdie of the day.
