Mickelson never lost the desire, will to win, says caddie/brother

Phil Mickelson of the United States celebrates with brother and caddie Tim on the 18th green after winning the 2021 PGA Championship at the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, United States, on Sunday. (AFP)

Phil Mickelson has never doubted himself over the course of his 30-year PGA Tour career and still has the hunger and desire to win that drives all great players, the six-time major champion’s brother and caddie Tim said on Sunday. Phil carded a one-over-par 73 to finish on six-under at the PGA Championship and become golf’s oldest major winner. It was also his first major title since the 2013 British Open. Tim has been on his brother’s bag since 2017 so Sunday’s triumph was the first time he has been able to share victory in a major from inside the ropes. “He never doubted himself,” Tim said after Phil’s two-shot win over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen at Kiawah Island. “His will and desire to win now is as high as it’s ever been in my opinion. Certainly it’s probably higher than when I started caddying for him. “I think the best players in the world all have that, and Phil has just carried that on for 35 years.” Phil’s manager Steve Loy predicted there was much more to come. “He’s healthier than he’s ever been,” Loy said. “I think he’s going to win five more times, maybe 10. You can’t tell him no. Every time I try to tell him, ‘look, we are running out of time’, he’s going, ‘I don’t want to hear it.’” Loy described Mickelson’s career in chapters — the first when he won on the PGA Tour as a 20-year-old amateur, second when he got his first Masters title in 2004 and the third when he captured the British Open at Muirfield. “This is, I don’t want to say, the final finale,” Loy said. “It ain’t. He thinks he’s 25 years old again.”